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UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 
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^tre  of  Oil  Companies  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia, Alumni  and  Faculty  of  Geology  Depart- 
ment and  University  Library. 

1940 


HOME  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
OF  MODERN  KNOWLEDGE 

No.  8 


Editor i : 

HERBERT    FISHER,  M.A.,  F.B.A. 
PROF.  GILBERT  MURRAY,  LiTT.D., 

LL.D.,  F.B.A. 

PROF.  J.   ARTHUR    THOMSON,  M.A. 
PROF.  WILLIAM  T.  BREWSTER,  M.A. 


THE   HOME    UNIVERSITY   LIBRARY 
OF  MODERN  KNOWLEDGE 

VOLUMES  NOW  READY 
HISTORY  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE     .    G.  H.  PBBBIS 

POLAR  EXPLORATION DB.W.B.BBUCB,LL.D.,F.R.8.B. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION   .     .     .     HILAIRR  BELLOC,  M.  P. 
THE   STOCK  EXCHANGE  :  A  SHORT 
STUDY  OF  INVESTMENT  AND  SPECULATION    F.  W.  HIBST 

IRISH  NATIONALITY Alien  STOPFOBD  GBBBN 

THE  SOCIAL  MOVEMENT    .    .    .    .    J.  RAMSAY  MACDONAID,  M.P. 
PARLIAMENT :  ITS  HISTOBY,  CONSTITU- 
TION, AND  PRACTICE SIB  COUBTNAY  ILBBBT,  K.C.B., 

K.C.S.I. 

MODERN  GEOGRAPHY MABIOH    I.    NEWBIOIN,  D.S.C. 

(Lend.) 

WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE     ....    JOHN  MASEFIELD. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS    .    .    D.H.8coTT,M.A.,LL.D.,F.R.B. 

VOLUMES  READY  IN  JULY 

THE  OPENING-UP  OF  AFRICA   .    .    SIB  H.  H.  JOHNSTON,  G.C.M.G., 

K.C.B.,  D.Sc.,  F.Z.8. 

MEDLEVAL  EUROPE H.  W.  C.  DAVIS,  M.A. 

MOHAMMEDANISM D.    8.    MABOOLIOUTH,    M.A., 

D.LlTT. 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  WEALTH     .    .    .    J.  A.  HOBSON,  M.A. 

HEALTH   AND  DISEASE W.  LESLIE  MACKENZIE,  M.D. 

INTRODUCTION  TO  MATHEMATICS    A.  N.  WHTTEHBAD,  Sc.D.  F.R.8. 

THE  ANIMAL  WORLD F.  W.  GAMBLE,  D.So.,  F.R.S. 

EVOLUTION J.  ABTHTTB  THOMSON,  M.A.,  and 

PATBICK  GBDDBS,  M.A. 

LIBERALISM L.  T.  HOBHOUSE,  M.A. 

CRIME  AND  INSANITY Ds.  C.  A.  MBBCIBB,  F.R.C.P., 

F.R.C.8. 

*«*  Other  volumes  in  active  preparation 


POLAR 
EXPLORATION 


BY 
WILLIAM   S.  BRUCE 

LL.D.,  F.R.S.E. 

LEADER  OF  SCOTTISH  NATIONAL  ANTARCTIC  ("SCOTIA"  ) 

EXPEDITION,    1902-4;    DIRECTOR  OF  SCOTTISH 

OCEANOGRAPHICAL    LABORATORY, 

EDINBURGH 


NEW   YORK 
HENRY   HOLT  AND   COMPANY 

LONDON 
WILLIAMS   AND   NORGATE 


COPYRIGHT,  1911, 

BY 
HENRY    HOLT  AND    COMPANY 


THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS.    CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


I  /AM  glad  to  have  this  opportunity  of  present- 
ing to  a  wide  public  an  outline  of  the  essential 
facts  and  problems  of  Polar  Exploration.  It  is 
not  more  than  introductory  to  a  more  comprehen- 
sive book  which  I  hope  to  write  when  some  leisure 
is  afforded  from  the  more  real  work  of  exploration 
and  research.  I  must  also  note  that  it  is  not 
intended  to  be  in  any  way  a  history  of  Polar 
Exploration. 

The  book  is  simply  a  "  traveller's  sample,'1  re- 
vealing to  some  extent  what  is  in  the  great  "ware- 
house" of  the  Polar  Regions.  It  is  based,  firstly ^ 
on  the  author's  personal  experiences  during  nine 
polar  voyages  —  two  to  the  Antarctic  Regions, 
viz.  in  1892-93  and  1902-04 ;  seven  to  the  Arctic 
Regions,  viz.  in  1896-97,  in  1898  (two),  in  1899, 
1906, 1907,  and  1909 ;  secondly ',  on  many  personal 
conversations  with  living  polar  explorers  during 
the  past  twenty  years,  including  several  conversa- 
tions and  correspondence  with  the  veteran  Sir 
Joseph  Dalton  Hooker,  O.M.,  who  accompanied 
Sir  James  Clark  Ross  on  his  ever-memorable  Ant- 
arctic voyage  from  1839-1843,  as  well  as  conver- 
sation and  correspondence  with  the  leaders  and 
many  members  of  the  staffs  of  every  recent  polar 
expedition. 

834008 


vi  PREFACE 

Consequently  the  personal  note  predominates, 
and  those  parts  of  the  Polar  Regions  which  the 
author  has  visited  are  dealt  with  in  greater  detail 
than  those  which  he  has  not  yet  had  an  opportu- 
nity of  visiting.  But  the  attempt  is  made  to  deal 
with  facts  and  problems  that  are  of  general  rather 
than  local  interest. 

I  have  to  acknowledge  kindly  help  in  the  pro- 
duction of  this  little  book.  Dr.  R.  N.  Rudmose 
Brown  has  revised  the  text,  especially  the  botani- 
cal section,  and  framed  the  index ;  Mr.  J.  Y. 
Buchanan,  Mr.  R.  T.  Omond,  and  Mr.  J.  Boland 
have  revised  the  sections  dealing  with  the  Physics 
of  the  Sea,  Meterology,  and  Astronomy.  Mrs. 
Bruce  has  been  my  amanuensis  throughout. 

WILLIAM  S.  BRUCE. 

Scottish  Oceanographical  Laboratory 
Edinburgh,  1911 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I    ASTRONOMICAL  FEATURES  OF  THE  POLAR  REGIONS  11 

II    THE  POLAR  REGIONS 15 

III  LAND  ICE 34 

IV  SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION  OF  ICE  AND  SNOW     .    .  54 
V    PLANT  LIFE 88 

VI    ANIMAL  LIFE 109 

VII    PHYSICS  OF  THE  POLAR  SEAS 169 

VIII    METEOROLOGY 193 

IX    MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES 217 

X    AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  OF  MODERN  EXPLORATION  .     .  236 

INDEX .  255 


SOUTH    POLAR 
CHART 

by  W.S.  Bruce,  LL.D. 


S-Orfcneys          ,.'*'        Blseoe  Sea 


WllhelmUhd? 

:'; 
Termination 


Rgures  on  Chert  rrfer 
to  WirrterOusrtcrs  of 
AntarctlcExpedrtions 

1  Scotia 

2  Antarctic 

3  UFraneai* 

4  FWquoiRw? 


NORTH    POLAR 
CHART 

by  W.S.Bruce,  LL.D. 

t      epo    400    eyo    too    /age 
British  Miks 


A   a  C   T   /  C 
O  C  £  A  At 
Oe.pt/)  about  tooo 


DEDICATED    BY    PERMISSION    TO 

JOSEPH  DALTON  HOOKER,  G.C.S.I..  O.M..  F.R.S. 

NATURALIST   TO    THE    BRITISH     ANTARCTIC    EXPEDITION 

1839    TO    1843,  IN    ADMIRATION   OF   HIS   DEVOTED 

SERVICES   TO   ANTARCTIC   EXPLORATION 

DURING   SEVENTY-TWO   YEARS 


POLAE  EXPLORATION 


CHAPTER  I 

ASTRONOMICAL  FEATURES   OF  THE 
POLAR  REGIONS 

FROM  the  earliest  days  of  European  civil- 
isation it  has  been  customary  to  define  the 
direction  of  the  sun  at  noon  as  well  as  the 
opposite  direction.  South  and  north  are  the 
terms  that  have  been  used  by  north-western 
Europe:  hence  North  Pole  for  that  end  of  the 
earth's  axis  towards  which  Europe  stretches, 
and  South  Pole  for  the  other  end  of  the  axis. 

Now  there  are  very  definite  peculiarities  of 
these  two  mathematical  points,  and  I  give  a 
few  of  these  to  set  the  reader  thinking. 

1.  The  sun  is  continuously  above  the  horizon 
for  six  months,  from  our  spring  to  our  autumn 
equinoxes,  and  continuously  below  the  horizon 
for  the  other  six  months. 

2.  But  there  is  only  one  time,  namely  noon, 
because  all  longitudes  converge  at  the  North 
Pole:    whether  it  be  light  or  dark  it  is  always 

noon,  because  the  sun  is  always  due  south. 
11 


12  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

3.  Though  there  is  only  one  time  there  are 
different  seasons,  because  these  depend  on  the 
position  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit  and  on  the 
inclination  of   the  polar   axis   to   the  plane  of 
the  ecliptic. 

4.  The  apparent  path   of  the   sun  is   an  as- 
cending spiral  from  the  vernal  equinox  till  the 
summer  solstice,  and  a  descending  spiral  from 
the  summer  solstice  till  the  autumnal  equinox. 
Thus  it  is  possible  to  take  meridian  altitude  of 
the  sun  during  the  whole  summer  six  months 
at   the    North    Pole,    at    any    moment,    or    at 
every    moment,   no    matter    where    the   sun   is 
in    the    spiral.      Exactly   the    same   thing   may 
be  said   of  the  moon  when  she  is  north  of  the 
Equator. 

5.  The  greatest  possible  altitude  of  the  sun 
above   the   horizon   is   about   23^    degrees    (ac- 
tually   at    Greenwich    mean    time,    1911,    June 
22nd,  2h  p.m.,  23°  27'  9".8).     It   reaches  this 
altitude  only  at  that  date. 

6.  The  constellations  never  set  at  the  North 
Pole,  their  apparent  paths  (neglecting  their  own 
very  tiny  movements)   being  in  circles,   round 
the  Pole;    like  the  sun,  they  are  always  south 
of  the  North  Pole. 

7.  When   standing   at   the   North   Pole   it   is 
impossible  to  look  in  any  other  direction  along 
the  earth's  surface  but  south.     To  the  left  or 
to  the  right,  behind  or  in  front  of  the  person 


ASTRONOMICAL  FEATURES         13 

standing  at  the  North  Pole  the  direction  is 
always  south. 

These  conditions  apply  equally  to  the  South 
Pole,  except  that  the  terms  north  and  south 
have  in  every  case  to  be  reversed.  It  is  very 
important  to  get  a  proper  grip  of  these  facts 
if  one  is  to  have  a  proper  conception  of  where 
the  Polar  Regions  are,  and  to  account  for  va- 
rious special  phenomena  peculiar  to  these  two 
parts  of  the  earth. 

Theoretically  it  is  convenient  to  define  the 
Polar  Regions  as  those  areas  that  lie  round 
about  the  North  Pole  and  round  about  the 
South  Pole,  within  the  Arctic  and  Antarctic 
Circles,  which  are  defined  by  being  those  cir- 
cles of  latitude  where  the  sun  on  midwinter- 
day  does  not  rise  and  where  on  midsummer- 
day  it  does  not  set. 

In  contrast  to  the  tropical  regions,  where 
the  sun  is  always  vertically  overhead  at  some 
place  at  noon  on  two  days  (at  the  north  and 
south  limits  on  one  day)  every  year,  and  al- 
ways reaches  in  every  part  an  altitude  exceed- 
ing about  43  degrees,  in  the  Polar  Regions  the 
sun  is  never  more  than  23$  degrees  above  the 
horizon.  On  account  of  this  great  obliquity  of 
the  sun's  rays  in  the  Polar  Regions  the  sun  has 
less  heating  power  and  the  regions  are  colder, 
while  in  winter  intense  cold  prevails  because 
of  the  entire  absence  of  the  sun. 


14  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Having  now  obtained  a  general  idea  of  the 
position  of  the  Polar  Regions  on  the  earth's 
surface  let  us  pass  on  to  consider  their  gen- 
eral features.  And  the  Antarctic  Regions  are 
considered  first,  because  it  was  there,  about 
twenty  years  ago,  that  I  first  received  my  polar 
baptism  and  first  learnt  what  the  Polar  Regions 
were. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   POLAR   REGIONS 

I  HAVE  defined  the  Antarctic  Regions  as 
lying  within  the  Antarctic  Circle,  that  is, 
south  of  663°  S.  latitude,  but  in  1892,  on  board 
the  Scottish  whaler  Balana,  I  found  that  this 
definition  broke  down,  for  we  fell  in  with  polar 
conditions  before  we  reached  latitude  60°  S., 
some  500  miles  south-eastward  of  Cape  Horn, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  South  Shetland 
Islands.  My  impressions  of  the  circumstances 
are  as  vivid  to-day  as  then,  and  more  vivid, 
perhaps,  than  many  other  even  more  strik- 
ing incidents  during  that  and  subsequent 
voyages. 

Sailing  south-eastward  from  the  Falkland 
Islands  across  the  breezy  southern  ocean,  we 
came  into  weather,  although  it  was  mid-sum- 
mer, having  temperatures  about  freezing-point. 
This  cold  weather  was  accompanied  by  fairly 
frequent  fogs  which  occasionally  were  very 
dense,  till  one  day,  when  we  were  about  80 
miles  north-east  of  the  South  Shetland  Islands, 
the  fog  divided,  opening  up  a  vista  at  the  far 
15 


16  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

end  of  which  a  gleam  of  sunshine  revealed  a 
huge  shadowy  iceberg — brilliantly  white.  Sail- 
ing on  we  came  nearer  to  the  berg,  which  was 
several  miles  off  when  we  first  sighted  it,  and 
found  it  to  be  a  mass  of  ice  which  probably 
rose  fully  a  hundred  feet  out  of  the  water 
and  was  about  hah*  a  mile  long.  The  top  of 
it  looked  as  flat  as  a  billiard  table,  and  the 
sides  were  vertical  white  cliffs;  some  cracks, 
mostly  vertical  and  lenticular,  were  strongly 
defined,  because  in  them  was  to  be  seen  the 
most  brilliant  and  intense  blue  one  can  im- 
agine. At  the  water-line  the  ice  cliff  was 
worn  by  the  lashing  of  the  relatively  warm 
waves  (32.3°  F.),  and  here  and  there  were 
caves  at  sea-level  where  green  intermingled 
with  intense  blue.  Into  these  caves  the  water 
rushed  with  a  resounding  roar,  until  each  cave 
was  a  seething  cauldron,  and  in  some  cases 
the  spray  from  these  caves  rose  high  into  the 
air.  The  sea  was  literally  swarming  with  Cape 
pigeons  and  blue  petrels,  while  great  finner 
whales  played  and  spouted  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  ship.  The  Cape  pigeons  were  so  numer- 
ous that,  on  putting  a  small  piece  of  fat  over 
the  side  of  the  ship,  one  could  catch  them 
quite  easily  with  an  angler's  landing-net.  The 
silk  tow-net  showed  that  the  water  was  swarm- 
ing with  a  small  shrimplike  creature  called  Eu- 
phausia,  several  species  of  smaller  Crustacea, 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  17 

and  some  diatoms;  the  diatoms  blocked  the 
meshes  of  the  silk  and  made  the  tow-net  slimy. 
In  the  evening  we  sighted  another  berg  to  lee- 
ward, and  at  night  two  other  icebergs  on 
either  bow  of  the  ship.  The  sun  set  only  a 
little  to  west  of  south,  and  a  light  band  of 
brilliant  sky  stretched  along  the  southern  ho- 
rizon much  the  same  as  is  seen  in  Scotland 
in  June.  During  that  night  we  passed  sev- 
eral bergs  in  the  fog,  which  came  down  and 
enveloped  us  again;  we  also  met  some  nasty 
irregular  ragged  bits  of  hard  clear  ice,  each 
about  the  size  of  a  cottage,  called  "growlers" 
by  Arctic  seamen  on  account  of  the  sound 
they  made  when  rolling  in  the  waves.  These 
growlers  are  literally  floating  rocks  which  would 
rip  the  sides  out  of  an  ordinary  iron  steamer. 
We  were  truly  in  the  Antarctic  Regions,  al- 
though more  than  300  miles  north  of  the  An- 
tarctic Circle.  For  this  and  other  reasons  I 
prefer  to  define  the  Antarctic  Regions  as  being 
bounded  by  the  average  limits  of  floating  ice. 
This  line  is  almost  entirely  north  of  60°  S., 
except  to  the  south  of  the  Indian  Ocean  and 
to  the  south  of  New  Zealand  and  Tasmania, 
where  it  dips  to  the  southward.  It  trends 
farthest  north  in  the  South  Atlantic  Ocean, 
reaching  about  50°  S.  to  the  south  of  Cape 
Colony,  and  55°  S.  to  the  south-east  of  the 
Falklands.  Within  this  limit  we  find  the  con- 


18  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

ditions  very  much  as  I  have  described  them 
on  that  first  day  when,  on  board  the  Balcena, 
we  fell  in  with  the  ice. 

But  besides  defining  the  limits  of  Antarctic 
ice,  this  boundary  is  useful  in  other  respects, 
for  it  includes  the  whole  of  the  continental 
land  mass  of  the  Antarctic  Regions,  which  at 
several  points  protrudes  beyond  the  Antarc- 
tic Circle,  notably  at  Graham  Land  and  Wilkes 
Land.  It  also  includes  most  of  the  really  typ- 
ical Antarctic  islands,  such  as  South  Georgia, 
the  Sandwich  Group,  South  Orkney,  or  Powell 
Islands,  South  Shetlands,  Bouvet  Island,  Bal- 
leny  Islands,  etc.  It  also  excludes  continental 
terminations  of  South  America  and  South  Africa 
as  well  as  Australia.  The  Antarctic  Regions 
are  of  exactly  opposite  character  to  the  Arc- 
tic Regions;  whereas  in  the  Arctic  Regions 
there  exists  a  polar  basin  of  considerable 
depth,  surrounded  by  an  almost  complete  ring 
of  continental  land,  composed  of  the  north- 
ern parts  of  Europe,  Asia  and  America,  in  the 
Antarctic  Regions  we  have  an  extensive  con- 
tinental land  mass  surrounded  by  a  contin- 
uous ocean.  So  far  we  know  little  of  this  vast 
continent,  which  is  probably  as  large  as  Europe 
and  Australia  combined.  What  coast-line  has 
been  discovered  was  nearly  all  discovered 
before  any  of  the  more  recent  expeditions 
sailed  to  the  south.  It  is  interesting  to  note 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  19 

that  the  depth  of  the  North  Polar  Basin  is 
more  or  less  equal  to  the  height  of  the  An- 
tarctic continent. 

Ross,  Wilkes,  D'Urville,  Biscoe,  Kemp, 
Palmer,  Johnson  and  Morell  all  made  impor- 
tant land  discoveries  previous  to  1844.  Since 
thttt  time  the  most  important  land  discovery 
was  Coats  Land,  which  not  only  filled  up  a 
gap  between  Enderby  Land  and  New  South 
Greenland,  but  which  placed  the  edge  of  the 
Antarctic  continent  500  miles  farther  north 
than  Murray  and  others  had  mapped  it.  Of 
the  ulterior  of  the  Antarctic  continent  we 
know  but  little;  the  pioneer  journey  of  Armi- 
tage,  at  an  altitude  of  9,000  feet,  gave  us  our 
first  insight  into  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
continental  ice  cap  of  which  we  have  further 
knowledge  from  the  journeys  of  Scott,  Shackle- 
ton  and  David.  (The  Heart  of  the  Antarctic, 
Sir  E.  H.  Shackleton:  London,  1910.) 

There  are  two  theories  regarding  the  Antarc- 
tic continent:  one,  that  it  is  one  continuous 
land  mass;  the  other,  that  it  is  divided  by  a 
channel  from  the  Weddell  Sea  to  the  Ross  Sea. 
To  my  mind  all  the  evidence  points  to  one 
land  mass,  and  for  the  following  reasons,  al- 
though it  should  be  noted  that  Prof.  Penck 
and  others  adhere  to  a  belief  in  two.  Look- 
ing at  the  map  we  will  find  that  the  outline 
of  the  south  of  South  America  is  almost  the 


20  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

same  as  that  part  of  the  Antarctic  continent 
known  as  Graham  Land;  each  terminates  in  a 
pointed  extremity  which  is  largely  broken  up 
into  clusters  of  islands  and  tends  to  turn 
towards  the  eastward;  each  has  a  group  of 
islands  lying  to  the  eastward— South  America 
the  Falkland  Islands,  and  Graham  Land  the 
South  Orkneys.  We  notice  also  that  whereas 
the  west  coast  of  South  America  is  rugged  and 
broken  up  into  many  islets  and  channels,  the 
east  coast  is  of  simpler  outline.  These  fea- 
tures also  hold  good  for  Graham  Land.  Look- 
ing at  the  general  sculpture  of  these  two  lands 
we  find  that  South  America  has  a  high  rugged 
mountain  range  on  the  west,  parallel  with  the 
coast,  and  broad  plains  of  low  elevation  on 
the  east;  the  same  features  hold  good  in  the 
description  of  Graham  Land,  as  far  as  it  is 
known.  The  most  recent  explorations  of  Dr. 
Jean  Charcot  still  further  emphasise  these  re- 
semblances. Finally,  looking  at  the  geology,  we 
find  that  both  the  west  coast  of  South  Amer- 
ica and  the  west  coast  of  Graham  Land  are 
made  up  of  the  same  class  of  folded  rocks, 
composed  of  gneisses,  granites,  etc.,  and  that 
along  each  coast  there  is  a  tendency  for  ac- 
tive volcanoes  to  appear;  but  on  the  east 
coast  of  both  lands  there  are  sedimentary 
rocks  of  more  recent  origin  with  plateau  for- 
mation. In  fact,  the  only  marked  difference 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  21 

that  occurs  is   in  the  glaciation,  which  is  ac- 
counted for  by  difference  of  latitude. 

Now  give  the  globe  a  half  turn  round  its 
axis  and  compare  Victoria  Land  and  its 
islands  with  Australia  and  its  islands.  We 
will  find  the  outline  of  Victoria  Land  on  its 
east  coast  has  a  remarkable  resemblance  to 
the  east  coast  of  Australia.  Lying  off  the 
coast  of  Australia  we  have  New  Zealand  and 
other  islands  which  have  their  counterpart  in 
the  smaller  islands  off  Victoria  Land,  notably 
Balleny  Isles,  Possession,  Coulman,  and  Ross 
Islands.  The  east  coast  of  Australia  is  flanked 
by  a  great  mountain  range  parallel  to  the 
coast,  which  slopes  away  to  the  westward, 
and  Victoria  Land  has  exactly  the  same  fea- 
ture. Geologically  both  Australia  and  Vic- 
toria Land  are  plateau  formations  of  similar 
type  and  age.  The  volcanic  character  of  New 
Zealand  compares  with  the  volcanic  islands 
of  Balleny,  Possession,  Coulman  and  Ross; 
all  are  on  folded  mountain  ranges. 

There  is  a  further  striking  feature.  The 
whole  of  the  west  coast  of  South  and  North 
America  has  the  same  character  in  being 
skirted  by  parallel  folded  mountain  systems, 
bearing  a  certain  number  of  volcanoes.  This 
general  Eastern  Pacific  character  also  holds 
good  for  the  west  coast  of  Graham  Land.  So, 
also,  the  general  type  of  the  Western  Pacific 


22  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

appears  to  be  carried  over  into  Victoria  Land, 
and  it  is  obvious  that  both  these  systems  on 
the  east  and  on  the  west  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
are  essentially  the  same  except  for  secondary 
modifications.  In  consequence,  we  have  all 
coasts  of  the  Pacific,  as  far  as  they  are  known, 
of  exactly  similar  formation  in  all  essential  re- 
spects. To  my  mind,  therefore,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  this  type  of  coast  is  continuous 
along  the  Pacific  coasts  of  Antarctica,  and 
that  the  mountain  system  of  Victoria  Land 
and  its  islands  links  up  with  the  mountain  sys- 
tem of  Graham  Land,  almost  certainly  exclud- 
ing the  possibility  of  a  break  to  the  east  of 
Victoria  Land  by  a  channel  across  to  the  Wed- 
dell  Sea.  Neither  Penck  nor  Darwin  appears 
to  have  given  sufficient  consideration  to  the 
principles  and  characters  of  different  coastal 
types  in  reaching  the  conclusions  they  have 
regarding  a  channel  or  deep  inlet  under  the 
Ross  Barrier  across  the  Antarctic  continent, 
slightly  to  the  Pacific  side  of  the  South  Pole. 
Evidence  obtained  from  the  distribution  of  ice, 
deep-sea  deposits,  and  marine  fauna  all  bears 
out  this  contention  of  a  continuity  of  the  land. 
This  great  mountain  chain  forms,  in  fact, 
the  backbone  of  Antarctica,  and  probably  more 
or  less  follows  the  sea  coast  between  Victoria 
Land  and  Graham  Land  just  as  it  does  in 
those  lands  themselves. 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  23 

Very  little  is  known  of  the  continental  coast- 
line to  the  south  of  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Indian  Oceans,  but  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  coast-line  in  these  parts  will 
resemble  in  general  character  the  coast-lines 
of  the  rest  of  the  lands  bordering  on  the  At- 
lantic and  Indian  Oceans:  that  is  to  say,  that 
the  coasts  will  not  be  precipitous  except  at 
points  where  mountain  ranges  cut  them  at 
right  angles  to  the  coast,  and,  meeting  the  sea, 
form  cliffs  and  capes.  The  general  formation 
of  these  will  probably  prove  to  be  of  the  pla- 
teau type  truncated  by  the  sea. 

The  little  we  do  know  of  the  coast-line  in 
this  region  certainly  does  not  refute  this  opin- 
ion. The  earliest  discovery  of  continental 
coast-line  in  this  region  was  by  two  Ameri- 
can sealers,  Captains  Johnson  and  Morell  in 
1823,  who  reported  a  large  tract  of  land  to 
the  south  of  the  South  Orkneys,  which  John- 
son called  New  South  Greenland.  Biscoe  in 
1831  discovered  a  large  tract  of  land  from 
about  12°  22'  E.  to  Enderby  Land,  in  about 
52°  E.  The  next  important  discoveries  were 
those  of  Wilkes  and  D'Urville  in  1840,  to  the 
south  of  the  Indian  Ocean — Adelie  Land  and 
C6te  Clarie.  The  other  land-falls  of  impor- 
tance to  the  south  of  the  Atlantic  and  Indian 
Oceans  have  not  been  until  recent  years,  when 
von  Drygalski  discovered  Wilhelm  Land,  which 


24  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

is  evidently  a  south-western  extension  of  Termi- 
nation Land,  and  when  Coats  Land  was  discov- 
ered by  the  Scottish  expedition.  Considerable 
scepticism  is  shown,  especially  in  England, 
regarding  the  reported  land  of  Morell  and 
Johnson;  but  not  in  Scotland,  for  the  in- 
vestigations of  the  Scotia  undoubtedly  tend  to 
suggest  the  presence  of  New  South  Greenland, 
as  do  also  the  observations  made  on  board  the 
Erebus  and  Terror  in  1843.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  Graham  Land  is  joined  to  Coats 
Land  by  New  South  Greenland,  and  that  the 
Weddell  Sea  does  not  extend  very  far  to  the 
south  in  that  region.  Again,  there  appears 
to  be  little  doubt  that  Coats  Land  is  contin- 
uous with  Enderby  Land,  and  that  the  latter, 
through  Kemp  Land  and  Wilhelm  Land,  is 
continuous  with  Wilkes  Land.  Wilkes  de- 
scribed high  land,  and  so  did  Biscoe;  and 
these  capes  may  well  be  the  termination  of 
mountain  ranges  more  or  less  at  right  angles 
to  the  coast;  but,  generally  speaking,  the 
coast  of  Antarctica  does  not  appear  to  be  lofty 
on  the  Atlantic  and  Indian  Ocean  sides.  Coats 
Land,  for  instance,  is  entirely  iceclad  and 
slopes  gently  towards  the  sea,  mostly  termi- 
nating in  an  ice  cliff  possibly  100  feet  high 
and  at  several  points  sloping  right  down  to 
sea-level.  Several  of  those  on  board  the  Scotia 
confidently  affirmed  that  they  could  see  moun- 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  25 

tain  peaks  in  the  distance,  but  there  is  con- 
siderable doubt  if  that  was  actually  the  case. 
(The  Voyage  of  the  Scotia,  R.  C.  Mossman, 
J.  H.  H.  Pirie,  and  R.  N.  Rudmose  Brown  : 
Edinburgh,  1906,  p.  236.)  If  there  were  moun- 
tains they  must  have  been  at  a  great  distance; 
all  that  I  could  see  from  the  ship  along  the 
150  miles  of  coast-line  that  we  mapped  was 
the  iceclad  land  rising  inland  in  undulating 
slopes  to  an  unknown  height. 

There  are  several  other  points  to  be  consid- 
ered, but  what  I  wish  to  emphasise  here  is, 
that  there  is  round  about  the  South  Pole  a  con- 
tinent of  enormous  size,  filling  almost  the  whole 
region  within  the  Antarctic  Circle,  and  that 
it  is  probably  one,  and  not  two  land  masses. 
This  continent  has  an  area  of  about  five  and 
a  hah*  million  square  miles,  an  area  equal  to 
that  of  Europe  and  Australia  combined.  Out- 
side this  great  continent,  almost  entirely 
iceclad,  lies  the  Great  Southern  or  Antarctic 
Ocean.  In  the  far  south  of  this  there  is  rela- 
tively fine  weather  broken  intermittently  with 
terrific  storms — blizzards  from  Antarctica.  In 
the  more  northern  parts  of  this  ocean  there 
is  continual  stormy  weather  from  the  west, 
which  causes  high  seas  to  run,  and  earns  for 
this  part  of  our  globe  the  name  of  the 
"roaring  forties"  and  the  "shrieking  fifties." 
That  part  of  the  Great  Southern  Ocean  which 


26  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

falls  within  the  average  limit  of  floating  ice 
we  will  here  consider  as  being  within  the  An- 
tarctic Regions. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  discuss  here  the  history 
of  Antarctic  exploration,  which  has  recently 
been  done  so  ably  by  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill  in  The 
Siege  of  the  South  Pole,  but  I  wish  to  give  in 
more  or  less  detail,  as  far  as  limited  space  will 
allow,  an  account  of  Antarctic  seas  and  lands. 
This  can  perhaps  best  be  done  by  dwelling 
more  especially  on  those  parts  that  I  have 
seen  myself,  namely,  Graham  Land,  South 
Shetlands,  South  Orkneys,  Coats  Land,  and 
the  Weddell  and  Biscoe  Seas,  and  by  giving 
a  more  general  account  of  parts  I  have  read 
of  or  heard  of  by  conversation  with  other 
Antarctic  explorers,  including  the  veteran  Sir 
Joseph  Hooker  who  sailed  with  Sir  James 
Clark  Ross  in  1839,  and  others  who  have 
visited  the  Antarctic  Regions  since. 

The  striking  incident  of  meeting  ice  at  sea 
for  the  first  time  in  one's  life,  and  especially 
falling  in  with  those  giant  Antarctic  icebergs 
— grim  sentinels  of  the  Antarctic — produces 
even  in  most  matter-of-fact  individuals  a  sense 
of  wonder  and  awe.  Their  stupendous  size, 
their  exquisite  architectural  composition,  more 
magnificent  than  the  temples  and  pyramids 
of  Egypt,  more  overpowering  in  solemnity 
than  the  Sphinx — make  the  most  thoughtless 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  27 

think  for  a  moment  of  the  Power  that  controls 
the  forces  of  nature. 

During  some  years  there  are  many  more 
icebergs  in  the  great  Southern  Ocean  than 
during  others,  and  the  summer  of  1892-93 — 
that  is  to  say,  our  northern  winter,  November 
till  February — was  such  a  year.  On  Decem- 
ber 23rd  and  24th,  1892,  on  board  the  Bakena, 
we  fell  in  with  a  great  host  of  bergs  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Danger  Islets  ;  they  were  all 
of  great  size,  some  being  3  or  4  miles  long  ; 
at  one  time  I  counted  as  many  as  sixty  from 
the  deck,  while  more  could  be  seen  from  the 
mast  head.  They  were  all  of  similar  height, 
about  100  or  150  feet  high.  Each  one  was 
table-topped.  At  one  time  we  passed  through 
a  regular  street,  lined  on  each  side  with  tower- 
ing bergs,  each  a  temple  in  itself,  now  Doric, 
now  Egyptian,  each  perfectly  carved  and 
shaped,  each  purer  and  whiter  than  the  other, 
glittering  in  the  sun,  pearl  grey  in  the  shade 
and  rich  blue  in  the  clefts  and  caves  which 
pierced  their  sides.  This  street  or  avenue 
was  several  miles  long,  indeed  some  individual 
bergs  were  fully  half-a-mile  in  length  ;  side 
avenues  opened  into  this  main  avenue.  Some- 
times we  sailed  into  an  open  piazza,  sometimes 
past  the  end  of  so  narrow  and  winding  a  pas- 
sage that  it  would  have  been  dangerous  even 
for  one  of  our  ship's  boats  to  attempt  to  navi- 


28  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

gate  it.  Presently  we  came  out  of  this  closely 
packed  group  of  bergs  into  the  open  sea,  where 
there  were  still  many  bergs  scattered  from 
horizon  to  horizon.  Besides  bergs  we  now 
fell  in  with  pack  ice,  amongst  which  were 
"  bergy-bits,"  that  is,  small  irregular  bits  that 
had  become  detached  from  the  bergs.  Here 
and  there  a  seal  lay  on  the  pack,  sleeping  or 
gracefully  lifting  its  head  to  look  at  our  ships 
with  its  large  dark  eyes,  little  dreaming  of  the 
cruel  fate  that  was  to  befall  his  companions 
a  few  days  later.  Fussy  penguins,  with  their 
white  breasts  and  black  backs,  jumped  out  of 
the  water  on  to  the  pieces  of  pack  ice,  and  by 
their  rather  harsh  cry  and  quaint  attitudes 
appeared  to  be  entering  a  protest  at  being  dis- 
turbed in  this  unseemly  manner.  There  was 
almost  a  perfect  calm,  and  despite  a  dense 
canopy  of  cloud  overhead  the  horizon  was 
clear  and  bright.  At  midnight  on  Christmas 
Eve,  in  latitude  64°  13'  S.  a  little  to  the  east 
of  Mount  Haddington,  we  were  stopped  from 
pushing  any  farther  to  the  south  because  of 
solid  field  ice  that  stretched  across  our  boV. 
Afterwards  the  edge  of  this  ice  was  examined 
and  was  found  to  stretch  for  about  250  miles 
north-eastward  without  a  break  through  which 
any  of  the  three  Scottish  whalers,  that  were 
there  together  at  the  time,  could  have  passed. 
It  is  true  that,  with  united  attack,  these  stout 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  29 

ice-armoured  ships  could  have  penetrated  some 
miles  through  this  ice  by  charging  and  re- 
charging, by  sawing  and  blasting,  and,  if  there 
had  been  a  sign  of  open  water  at  the  back  of 
the  ice,  it  might  have  been  worth  doing  this 
to  see  if  the  whale,  reported  by  Ross  in  1843 
and  described  by  him  as  greatly  resembling 
the  Bowhead  Whale,  was  seeking  safe  retreat 
there.  But  all  the  evidence  indicated  that 
there  was  no  water  at  the  back  and  to  the  south 
of  this  ice,  but  that  it  continued  in  a  more  or 
less  solid  field  till  it  came  up  against  land, 
which  was  invisible  from  the  ship's  deck,  ex- 
cept to  the  W.  and  S.W.,  and  even  from  the 
crow's  nest  at  the  ship's  mainmast-head. 

In  technical  whalers'  language  we  "fastened 
on  to  the  floe"  that  night  and  lay  there  during 
the  whole  of  Christmas  Day,  the  only  day  of 
rest  we  had  for  the  next  two  months.  The 
scene  was  of  wonderful  beauty,  and  I  cannot 
do  better  than  quote  the  graceful  description 
by  the  able  artist-chronicler  of  the  voyage. 

"Those  who  have  felt,"  says  Burn  Murdoch 
(From  Edinburgh  to  the  Antarctic,  by  W.  G. 
Burn  Murdoch),  "the  peace  of  a  summer  night 
in  Norway  or  Iceland,  where  the  day  sleeps 
with  wide-open  eyes,  can  fancy  the  quiet 
beauty  of  such  a  night  among  the  white  floes 
of  the  Antarctic.  To-day  has  passed,  glister- 
ing in  silky  white,  decked  with  sparkling  jewels 


30  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

of  blue  and  green,  and  we  thought  surely  we 
had  seen  the  last  of  Nature's  white  harmonies; 
the  evening  came,  pensive  and  soothing  and 
grey,  and  all  the  white  world  changed  into 
pale  violet,  pale  yellow,  and  rose. 

"A  dreamy  stillness  fills  the  air.  To  the 
south  the  sun  has  dipped  behind  a  bank  of 
pale  grey  cloud,  and  the  sky  above  is  touched 
with  primrose  light.  Far  to  the  north  the 
dark,  smooth  sea  is  bounded  by  two  low  bergs, 
that  stretch  across  the  horizon.  The  nearest 
is  cold  violet  white,  and  the  sunlight  strikes 
the  farthest,  making  it  shine  like  a  wall  of 
gold.  The  sky  above  them  is  of  a  leaden,  pea- 
cock blue,  with  rosy  cloudlets  hanging  against 
it — such  colouring  as  I  have  never  before  seen 
or  heard  described.  To  the  westward,  across 
the  gulf,  we  can  just  distinguish  the  blue-black 
crags  jutting  from  the  snowy  lomonds.  Little 
clouds  touched  with  gold  and  rose  lie  nestling 
in  the  black  corries,  and  gather  round  the 
snowy  peaks.  To  the  south,  in  the  centre  of 
the  floe,  some  bergs  lie  cold  and  grey  in  the 
shadow  of  the  bank  of  clouds.  They  look  like 
Greek  temples  imprisoned  for  ever  in  a  field 
of  snow.  A  faint  cold  air  comes  stealing  to 
us  over  the  floe  :  it  ripples  the  yellow  sky  re- 
flection at  the  ice-edge  for  a  moment,  and  falls 
away.  In  the  distance  a  seal  is  barking — a 
low  muflied  sound  that  travels  far  over  the 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  31 

calm  water,  and  occasionally  a  slight  splash 
breaks  the  silence,  as  a  piece  of  snow  separates 
from  the  field  and  joins  its  companion  pieces 
that  are  floating  quietly  past  our  stern  to 
the  north — a  mysterious,  silent  procession  of 
soft,  white  spirits,  each  perfectly  reflected  in 
the  lavender  sea. 

"Nature  sleeps — breathlessly — silent;  perhaps 
she  dreams  of  the  spirit  world,  that  seems  to 
draw  so  close  to  her  on  such  a  night. 

"By  midnight  the  tired  crew  were  all  below 
and  sound  asleep  in  their  stuffy  bunks.  But 
the  doctor  and  I  found  it  impossible  to  leave 
the  quiet  decks  and  the  mysterious  daylight, 
so  we  prowled  about  and  brewed  coffee  in  the 
deserted  galley.  There  we  watched  the  sun 
pass  behind  the  grey  bergs  in  the  south  for  a 
few  seconds,  and  appear  again,  refreshed,  with 
a  cool  silvery  light.  A  few  flakes  of  snow 
floated  in  the  clear,  cold  air,  and  two  snowy 
petrels,  white  as  the  snow  itself,  floated  along 
the  ice-edge. 

"A  cold,  dreamy,  white  Christmas  morning 
— beautiful  beyond  expression." 

These  lines  recall  to  me  that  wonderful 
scene,  more  charming  and  restful  than  many 
another  Arctic  and  Antarctic  scene  I  have  seen 
since.  The  dignity,  the  solemn  grandeur,  the 
colour,  and  the  marvellous  silence  all  helped 
to  leave  a  lasting  impression  upon  me,  and, 
in  spite  of  many  discomforts,  difficulties,  and 


32  POLAR  EXPLO&ATION 

dangers  that  I  have  had  to  face  since  in  the 
north  and  the  south,  it  is  this  wonderful  picture 
and  others  like  it  that  call  me  back  again. 

I  have  given  this  picture  as  an  artistic  pres- 
entation, and  now  I  am  going  through  the 
rather  ruthless  process  of  analysing  the  subjects 
in  the  picture.  In  the  first  place,  every  one 
will  agree  that  we  were,  without  doubt,  in 
what  might  be  fairly  described  as  the  Ant- 
arctic Regions,  although,  when  the  Baloena 
lay  anchored  to  impenetrable  ice  on  Christ- 
mas Day,  we  were  outside  the  Antarctic  Circle 
by  two  and  a  half  degrees,  or  150  miles.  The 
first  definition  therefore  defining  the  Antarctic 
Regions  as  lying  within  the  Antarctic  Circle 
breaks  down  completely,  just  as  it  did  ten 
years  later  when  on  board  the  Scotia  we  met 
with  impenetrable  ice  not  very  far  south  of 
latitude  59°  S.  to  the  east  of  the  South  Ork- 
neys, or  when,  during  the  winter  of  1903,  the 
Scotia  was  frozen  up  for  eight  months  in  Scotia 
Bay,  which  is  situated  between  60  and  61 
degrees  south  latitude. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  icebergs,  of  field 
ice,  of  floe  ice,  and  of  pack  ice.  Let  me  explain 
what  these  terms  mean.  It  has  been  shown 
that  there  is  a  great  area  of  land,  probably  one 
great  continent,  round  about  the  South  Pole. 
This  continent  is  surrounded  by  the  Great 
Southern  Ocean,  and,  over  the  region  occupied 
by  that  ocean,  within  the  average  limit  of  float- 


THE  POLAR  REGIONS  33 

ing  ice,  there  are  even  in  summer  time  wintry 
conditions;  so  much  so  that  most  of  the  pre- 
cipitation that  occurs  is  in  the  form  of  snow 
instead  of  rain.  In  midsummer,  when  cruising 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Antarctic  continent,  bliz- 
zards off  the  land  cause  the  temperature  to  fall 
even  below  zero  Fahrenheit,  and  in  winter  on 
Antarctica  itself  a  temperature  has  been  re- 
corded as  low  as  68  degrees  below  zero  Fah- 
renheit, or  100  degrees  of  frost.  The  lowest 
air-temperature  has  been  recorded  at  Verk- 
hoyansk in  Siberia,  namely,  -  90°  F.,  or  122 
degrees  of  frost.  From  this  it  will  be  seen 
that,  as  most  of  the  Antarctic  land  lies  well 
within  the  Antarctic  Circle,  practically  all 
precipitation  must  be  in  the  form  of  snow, 
and  that  little  melting  takes  place  except  where 
the  sun  gets  very  favourable  play.  On  black 
rocks  the  sun's  heat  may  be  absorbed,  and 
in  sheltered  corries,  where  there  may  be  con- 
siderable melting,  resulting  in  the  formation 
of  small  burns  and  tarns. 

On  the  rocks  a  few  lichens  will  grow;  on 
softer,  more  crumbly,  and  flatter  expanses  a 
few  mosses  may  thrive,  and  amongst  these 
mosses  and  in  the  tarns  a  few  minute  forms 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life  will  flourish,  which 
have  sharp  alternate  spells  of  activity  or  pas- 
sivity according  as  the  temperature  is  above 
or  below  the  freezing-point. 


CHAPTER  III 

LAND   ICE 

UNDER  the  conditions  of  low  temperature 
which  have  been  described,  even  if  there  is 
only  a  very  slight  snowfall  in  the  heart  of 
Antarctica,  there  must  be  a  constant  accumu- 
lation of  snow  upon  the  land.  This  snow  by 
its  own  incumbent  weight  gets  compressed  into 
ice,  which  fills  /comes  and  glens,  and  covers 
any  flat  land  there  may  be  with  a  great  depth 
of  solid  ice.  But  the  accumulation  cannot 
go  on  indefinitely,  and  the  ice  begins  to  flow, 
first  down  the  steeper  glens,  then  down  even 
the  least  inclined  stretches  of  the  land,  forced 
by  the  great  mass  of  ice  always  accumulating 
from  behind.  It  may  even  get  pushed  over 
flat  if  not  actually  rising  ground,  and  eventu- 
ally reaches  the  sea.  If  the  sea  be  shallow  it 
may  pusb  out  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
land,  ultimately  floating  free  from  the  bottom. 
Fresh  snow  is  all  the  while  falling,  and  adding 
to  the  whole.  Blizzards  come  and  drive  the 
powdery  loose  snow  from  one  place  to  another, 
and  the  hard-driving  wind  binds  the  powder 


LAND  ICE  35 

into  solid  ice.  Imagine  all  this  on  an  enor- 
mous scale!  Not  over  an  area  of  a  dozen  or 
a  hundred,  or  even  a  thousand  square  miles, 
but  over  an  area  as  large  as  Europe  and 
Australia  combined,  then  we  have  a  picture 
of  what  is  happening  over  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Antarctica!  The  ice  thus  accumu- 
lated  from  snowfall,  thus  consolidated  from 
loose  snow  into  solid  ice  by  pressure,  gets 
pushed  ultimately  into  the  sea.  Let  me  in- 
dicate what  happens  by  referring  for  a  moment 
to  a  phenomenon  with  which  all  of  us  are 
familiar.  A  snowstorm  whitens  all  the  country 
round  and  every  roof  has  a  coating  of  snow 
some  six  inches  thick.  The  snow  gets  bound 
together  and  remains  a  more  or  less  solid  cov- 
ering on  the  roof,  till  one  day  it  slips  off  from 
various  causes  in  irregular  pieces,  all  about 
six  inches  thick  and  perhaps  several  feet  across, 
and  crashes  down  on  the  roadway  beneath. 
But  if  the  eaves  of  the  roof  dipped  into  water 
at  that  level,  then  this  great  sheet  of  icy  snow 
would,  when  slipping  from  the  roof,  float  off 
on  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  floating 
sheets  of  icy  snow — "floating  ice  islands" — 
would  be  of  various  areas,  but  they  would  all 
be  flat-topped,  and  of  a  uniform  thickness  of 
six  inches,  the  sides  would  be  more  or  less 
perpendicular,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
thickness  would  be  below  the  surface  of  the 


36  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

water,  the  amount  depending  on  the  solidity 
of  each  sheet  of  icy  snow,  but  possibly  one  inch 
might  be  above  water  to  five  inches  below. 
Magnify  your  roof,  magnify  your  ice  covering 
which  has  slipped  off  the  roof  and  floated  off 
into  the  water,  magnify  your  snowfall  of  a 
single  night  into  that  of  more  than  a  thousand 
years,  make  every  inch  of  thickness  100  feet, 
and  you  have  models  on  a  scale  of  1  to  1,200 
of  Antarctic  icebergs,  at  least  as  far  as  shape 
is  concerned.  The  mode  of  formation  also  is 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  Antarctic  ice- 
bergs, although  probably  the  great  ice-fields 
that  come  flowing  over  extensive  stretches 
of  gently  undulating  or  more  or  less  flat  land, 
and  even  what  would  be  shallow  sea  were  the 
ice  not  there,  are  fed  not  only  by  the  inter- 
mittent falls  of  snow  year  after  year  and  by 
the  drift  brought  from  the  mountains  and 
inland  ice,  but  also  by  glaciers  which  act  as 
feeders  to  these  low-lying  ice-fields,  and  which 
keep  on  pushing  the  whole  mass  seaward  until 
great  flat-topped  pieces,  exactly  similar  in 
shape  to  the  flat-topped  snow  islands  from 
the  roof,  float  out  to  sea. 

One  of  these  great  ice-fields  lies  to  the  south 
of  New  Zealand,  terminating  in  an  ice  cliff 
in  the  Ross  Sea,  which  is  usually  known  as 
the  Ross  Barrier.  This  great  barrier  was 
discovered  by  Ross  in  1840,  and  was  visited 


LAND  ICE  37 

by  him  during  two  successive  seasons.  It 
has  been  now  visited  by  several  expeditions 
during  recent  years,  especially  by  those  under 
the  leadership  of  Scott  and  Shackleton.  This 
ice  cliff,  varying  in  height  from  almost  sea- 
level  to  about  100  feet  above  the  sea,  stretches 
in  an  east  and  west  direction  between  Mounts 
Erebus  and  Terror  and  Edward  Land  for  a 
distance  of  nearly  300  miles.  It  is  quite  easy 
to  imagine  that  pieces  many  miles  in  length 
and  breadth  might  break  off  and  float  out  to 
sea,  as  well  as  almost  innumerable  smaller 
pieces  from  a  mile  or  two  in  length  and 
breadth  to  only  a  few  feet.  This  is  exactly 
what  does  happen,  and  it  certainly  must  occur 
in  other  parts  of  the  Antarctic  Regions  besides 
the  Ross  Sea.  Those  countless  bergs  seen  by 
us  on  board  the  Balama  in  1892-93,  and  again 
those  seen  by  all  on  board  the  Scotia  during 
her  two  cruises  in  the  Weddell  Sea,  as  well  as 
those  that  drifted  past  the  South  Orkneys  for 
eight  months  during  the  winter  of  1903,  and 
those  seen  by  Charcot  between  70°  W.  and 
124°  W.,  certainly  did  not  come  from  the  Ross 
Barrier,  but  from  similar  barriers,  perhaps 
even  more  extensive  than  the  Ross  Barrier. 
Other  barriers  must  occur  elsewhere  in  the 
Antarctic  Regions  to  account  for  the  host  of 
table-topped  bergs  that  are  scattered  all  over 
the  Great  Southern  Ocean,  and  indeed  Nor- 


38  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

denskjold  has  described  one  on  the  east  coast 
of  Graham  Land.  The  greater  size  of  the 
bergs  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean  than  on  the 
Pacific  side  of  Antarctica  indicates  the  greater 
scale  of  the  ice-sheet  towards  the  Weddell  Sea 
than  towards  the  Ross  Sea.  Moreover,  after 
the  reports  of  the  latest  expeditions,  it  appears 
probable  that  the  larger  and  more  numerous 
bergs  that  occur  to  the  south  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Indian  Oceans  are  not  wholly  comparable 
in  their  formation  and  structure  to  those  found 
in  the  Ross  Sea,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Ross  Barrier. 

The  whole  question  of  the  Ross  Barrier  and 
a  barrier  described  by  Nordenskjold  on  the 
east  coast  of  Graham  Land,  which  he  calls  an 
"ice-terrace,"  is  most  interesting.  Buchanan 
and  Nordenskjold  have  pointed  out  that  these 
barriers,  or  ice-terraces,  are  composed  of  neve, 
not  glacier  ice,  and  with  the  Graham  Land 
Barrier  this  especially  appears  to  be  the  case. 
Neve,  however,  precludes  the  idea  of  flow, 
and  we  have  the  definite  record  of  Scott  that 
Barne,  on  visiting  a  depot  Scott  had  laid  down, 
found  that  it  had  "moved  on."  "Thirteen 
and  a  hah*  months,"  says  Scott,  "after  the 
establishment  of  the  depot,  he  measured  its 
displacement,  and  found  it  to  be  606  yards. 
And  thus  almost  accidentally  we  obtained  a 
very  good  indication  of  the  movement  of  the 


LAND  ICE  39 

Great  Barrier  ice-sheet."  (The  Voyage  of  the 
Discovery,  Captain  R.  F.  Scott,  vol.  ii,  p.  300  : 
London,  1905.) 

Doubtless,  the  Ross  Barrier  is  fed  consider- 
ably from  the  southern  glaciers  that  run  into 
it.  Speaking  of  the  discharges  of  the  glaciers 
from  the  neve  of  the  inland  ice  plateau,  Scott 
says,  "From  observations  which  I  have  men- 
tianed  one  must  gather  that  the  movement 
of  this  most  northerly  of  these  discharges  is 
very  slow,  but  judging  by  the  movement  of  the 
Barrier,  the  southern  ones  are  more  active." 

Now  the  only  good  channels  by  which 
glaciers  run  into  this  Barrier,  and  that  are 
of  importance  and  that  come  down  from  the 
Inland  Ice-sheet  or  Inland  neve  over  which 
Scott,  Shackleton,  Armitage,  and  David  have 
led  expeditions,  probably  come  into  it  at 
half-a-dozen  so-called  inlets,  such  as  Skelton, 
Mulock,  Barne,  and  Shackleton  Inlets,  and 
the  largest  and  most  definite  feeder  known  is 
the  great  glacier  that  Shackleton  discovered 
and  travelled  up  from  the  Barrier  to  the 
Inland  Ice,  namely,  the  Beardmore  Glacier. 

But  the  ice  that  pours  out  of  this  evidently 
rapid-flowing  and  huge  glacier  is  about  360 
nautical  miles  from  the  face  of  the  cliff  of 
the  Ross  Barrier.  Now,  according  to  Scott's 
estimated  rate  of  flow  of  the  Barrier  at  606 
feet  in  thirteen  and  a  half  months,  it  would 


40  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

take  nearly  1,200  years  for  that  ice  to  reach 
the  Barrier  face.  Meantime  the  whole  glacier 
— or  should  it  be  called  ice-field? — is  accumu- 
lating ice  by  snowfall  and  by  drift  from  the 
surrounding  mountains  and  plateaux,  and  must 
therefore  be  chiefly  and,  indeed  possibly,  wholly 
composed  of  this  in  the  form  of  neve,  but  with 
this  marked  character,  that  it  is  a  moving, 
and  not  a  stationary,  neve.  At  some  future 
time,  with  more  space  at  my  disposal,  I  propose 
to  further  discuss  this  point,  because  a  general 
definition  of  a  neve  is  ice  that  collects  in  a 
lofty  plain,  from  which  glaciers  flow  out  but 
which  does  not  actually  flow  itself.  The 
structure  of  neve  ice  is  also  distinct  from  that 
of  glacier  ice,  the  grain  of  which,  in  each 
case,  is  the  leading  feature.  The  flow  of  the 
Ross  Barrier  is,  I  believe,  different  from  that 
of  an  ordinary  glacier  which  comes  running 
and  tumbling  down  a  gully  or  a  glen,  like 
water  in  a  river  down  a  river  course,  for  in 
this  case  it  comes  over  a  low  stretch  of  flat 
or  gently  shelving  land  or  shallow  sea  and  is 
ultimately  afloat.  It  is  rather  pushed  from 
behind  than  moving  forward  by  its  own  gravi- 
tation. The  flow  is  probably  different  also 
in  this  respect,  that,  like  a  rapid  river,  there  is 
a  sort  of  rotatory  movement  of  the  ice  of  a 
glacier  which  is  plastic  by  virtue  of  its  disin- 
tegrated grains,  each  surrounded  with  a  film 


LAND  ICE  41 

of  saline  water,  whereas  very  little  of  such 
movement  would  occur  in  the  case  of  the 
barrier  ice,  and  consequently  the  marks  of 
stratification  remain  visible  in  the  bergs  which 
are  calved  from  it.  Except  for  a  certain 
amount  of  glacier  ice,  which  comes  hi  from 
the  feeders  mentioned,  the  Ross  Barrier  is 
made  up  almost  entirely  of  successive  years' 
additions  of  snow  and  drift  that  fall  upon  it 
and  accumulate  in  definite  layers.  The  simile, 
therefore,  that  I  have  already  given  of  the 
snow  layer  on  a  roof  is  all  the  more  striking, 
only  it  is  not  the  accumulation  of  snow  of  a 
single  fall,  not  even  of  snow  of  a  single  year, 
but  probably  of  snow  that  has  fallen,  say, 
during  a  thousand  years. 

It  would  not  do  to  pass  by  Nordenskjold's 
important  observations  with  regard  to  his  "ice 
terrace"  at  Graham  Land,  and  it  is  best  to 
quote  his  own  words  (Antarctica,  Dr.  Otto 
Nordenskjold  :  London,  1905)  as  follows  :  "At 
our  noonday  rest  I  was  nearly  falling  into  a 
broad  crevasse,  but  said  nothing  of  the  matter, 
in  order  not  to  make  the  others  anxious.  But 
all  of  a  sudden  the  ice  became  more  uneven, 
and  at  5  p.m.  our  march  came  to  a  sudden 
and  unexpected  end  in  front  of  a  canal-like 
crevasse,  some  20  metres  (65  feet)  broad  and 
almost  as  deep,  which  seemed  to  run  hi  towards 
the  land  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  This 


42  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

crevasse  was  of  great  interest,  as  it  gave  us 
a  very  clear  idea  of  the  inner  structure  of  the 
ice.  The  same  splendid  stratification  could 
be  seen  here  as  that  which  often  occurs  in  the 
large  icebergs,  thus  proving  that  the  ice  had 
been  formed  of  layers  of  snow  deposited,  during 
long  periods,  the  one  upon  the  other,  and  being, 
too,  a  new  proof  of  the  transition,  found  in 
these  regions,  from  glacier  to  sea  ice.  I  think, 
too,  that  the  Antarctic  icebergs  need  not  neces- 
sarily have  their  origin  on  land,  but  that  they 
can  also  be  built  up  on  a  base  of  sea  ice  in 
shallow  water  near  the  land." 

Nordenskjold's  idea  that  Antarctic  icebergs 
may  be  built  up  on  a  base  of  sea  ice  is  not 
altogether  new,  for  Captain  Cook  previously 
made  that  suggestion,  though  without  the 
great  scientific  qualifications  that  Norden- 
skjold  has  for  expressing  such  an  opinion,  and 
also  without  the  knowledge  of  the  existence 
of  these  barriers  or  ice-terraces  that  have  been 
discovered  in  the  Antarctic  Regions  by  Ross 
and  Nordenskjold  since  Cook's  voyage.  But 
from  my  experience  in  the  Polar  Regions  during 
twenty  years  I  cannot  conceive  of  these  Ant- 
arctic bergs  being  built  up  from  a  base  of  sea 
ice. 

There  appears  to  be  little  doubt,  however, 
that  the  Ross  Barrier  is  to  a  great  extent 
afloat.  But  Sir  George  Darwin's  "guess" 


LAND  ICE  43 

"that  the  bay  behind  the  barrier  stretches 
past  the  South  Pole  and  to  the  east  of  it  as 
far  as  latitude  80°"  is  dangerous.  All  the 
evidence  at  our  disposal  from  observations 
taken  in  the  region  of  the  Weddell  Sea  con- 
demns the  idea  that  there  is  "an  arm  of  the 
sea  through  to  Weddell's  Sea."  (Tided  Obser- 
vations of  the  British  Antarctic  Expedition,  1907. 
Sir  G.  Darwin.) 

The  question  is  a  most  intricate  and  diffi- 
cult one,  and  cannot  be  properly  solved  until 
one  or  more  expeditions  set  themselves  to 
work  in  definitely  making  examinations  of 
the  ice  of  the  different  layers  of  the  barriers, 
of  the  different  layers  of  the  bergs  that  have 
been  shed  from  them,  and  various  detailed 
measurements,  and,  what  is  perhaps  as  impor- 
tant as  anything,  the  demarcation  of  the  exact 
extent  of  these  barriers,  and  a  detailed  survey 
of  their  surface  as  regards  level.  From  the 
information  we  have  at  hand,  it  is  very  difficult 
to  assert  with  certainty  that  the  altitude  of 
the  Ross  Barrier,  when  it  emerges  into  the 
Ross  Sea,  is  exactly  the  same  as  it  is  in  84°  S., 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Beardmore  Glacier. 

It  can  be  imagined  that  bergs  of  almost  any 
length  might  be  broken  off  from  such  a  barrier 
as  the  Ross  Barrier,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
bergs  of  enormous  size  have  been  recorded 
by  many  voyagers  to  the  South  Seas.  Even 


44  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

allowing  for  exaggeration  due  to  difficulty  in 
gauging  their  length,  bergs  of  several  miles  in 
length,  up  to  20  or  30,  certainly  do  occur.  A 
single  glance  at  the  ice  chart  for  the  Antarctic 
Regions  published  by  the  Admiralty  will  con- 
firm this  statement.  On  board  the  Baloena 
and  the  Scotia  we  saw  many  bergs  at  least  4 
miles  long  :  on  one  occasion,  on  the  Bakena, 
we  measured  a  berg  12  miles  long,  and  on 
another  occasion  the  Baloena  steamed  at  the 
rate  of  5  knots  for  6  hours  along  the  face  of 
a  berg,  which  made  the  length  of  it  fully  30 
miles.  Some  bergs  have  been  recorded  of  very 
much  greater  height  than  any  I  have  seen, 
though  the  records  are  doubted  by  some 
Antarctic  explorers  of  recent  years,  but  in 
bad  weather  and  in  those  tempestuous  seas 
it  is  easy  for  such  errors  to  occur,  though 
it  may  be  possible  to  have  bergs  considerably 
more  than  150  feet  high  in  the  Antarctic  if, 
by  weathering,  one  of  these  flat-topped  bergs 
should  become  tilted  up  on  end.  These 
gigantic  bergs  have  at  times  been  described 
as  ice  islands,  and  by  the  inexperienced  mis- 
taken for  land. 

There  is  another  class  of  icebergs  in  the 
Antarctic  Regions  that  are  rather  overlooked 
and  lost  sight  of  by  being  overshadowed  with 
so  large  a  number  of  these  great  flat-topped 
bergs  :  these  are  bergs  that  are  similar  in 


LAND  ICE  45 

every  respect  to  those  of  the  Arctic  Regions. 
They  are  formed  by  much  smaller  and  irregular 
pieces  of  ice  breaking  away  from  the  snouts 
of  glaciers  similar  to  those  found  in  Spitsbergen 
and  other  Arctic  lands.  These  are  only  formed 
in  smaller  masses  of  land  like  the  South  Orkneys 
or  those  parts  of  the  continent  where  relatively 
small  individual  glaciers  run  directly  from 
the  mountains  into  the  sea,  as  they  do  at  the 
northern  extremity  of  Graham  Land,  at  the 
South  Orkneys,  and  several  other  places. 

The  reader  should  now  have  a  clear  con- 
ception of  what  bergs  are  and  how  they  are 
formed.  He  will  see  that  they  are  a  product 
of  the  land,  and  that  they  are  composed 
entirely  of  fresh-water  ice.  They  may  be 
likened  to  great  ships,  dwarfing  the  greatest 
liners  and  battleships  into  beggarly  insignifi- 
cance ;  they  sail  forth  to  the  open  ocean  drifted 
by  deeper  currents  rather  than  the  wind,  moving 
to  and  fro  with  the  tide  ;  blizzards  and  stormy 
seas  lashing  them,  they  drive  onward  with 
the  currents  of  the  sea,  checked  only  by  a 
contrary  tide  and  helped  onward  by  a  favour- 
able one  ;  onward  they  go  head  to  wind  and 
head  to  sea,  it  matters  little  to  them  !  Should 
some  smaller  berg  be  driven  against  one  of  these 
leviathans,  it  is  dashed  to  pieces  against  its 
icy  cliffs,  only  with  the  sacrifice  of  a  few  chips 
falling  off  and  around  its  victim  ;  should  a 


46  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

field  of  floe  ice  be  driven  by  the  wind  against 
it,  the  floe  is  broken  into  fragments,  whilst 
pack  ice  divides  and  passes  by  on  either  side. 
They  drive  onward  and  northward  all-conquer- 
ing and  resistless,  and  then  venture  forth  into 
warmer  seas.  These  seas  are  the  most  tem- 
pestuous in  the  world,  and  the  presence  of  so 
much  ice  in  water  of  a  higher  temperature  not 
only  encourages  fogs,  as  does  also  the  variation 
of  the  temperature  of  the  air  and  water,  but 
is  exceedingly  dangerous  to  ships  navigating 
there  ;  especially  as  in  these  latitudes  there 
are  always  dark  nights  of  greater  or  less  duration 
the  whole  year.  But  this  is  the  beginning  of 
the  end  :  rotted  by  the  warmer  winds  and 
seas,  gutted  out  with  caves  up  which  great 
waves  rush  in  wild  confusion  into  the  very 
bowels  of  these  monsters,  the  bergs  get  under- 
mined, turn  turtle,  and  break  up  into  many 
smaller  bergs  and  thousands  of  smaller  irregular 
pieces.  These  irregular  chips  get  still  more 
weathered,  and  assume  most  fantastic  shapes, 
and  are  hard  as  flint.  They  are  the  "growlers" 
and  the  "bergy  bits"  that  we  have  already 
spoken  of. 

,  Many  an  iron  ship  has  had  its  side  or  bottom 
ripped  out  with  growlers,  and  many  a  wooden 
ship  has  had  its  wooden  walls  "stove-in"  with 
them,  and  nothing  more  has  been  heard  of 
them  or  their  living  human  freight.  No  chance 


LAND  ICE  47 

for  these  poor  wretches,  even  if  a  few  managed 
to  scramble  wet,  cold,  and  benumbed  into  a 
ship's  boats.  No  hand  to  help,  no  one  to  hear 
their  last  cry  of  agony.  If  this  is  the  power 
of  a  "growler,"  what  chance  has  a  helpless 
sailing-ship  driving  before  a  gale  with  a  monster 
berg  on  its  lee?  Her  end  must  be  a  battering 
to  death  against  its  solid  ice  cliffs. 

Even  with  ships  specially  constructed  for 
ice-navigation,  the  greatest  care  has  to  be 
exercised.  I  have  seen  a  relatively  small 
piece  weighing  hundreds  of  tons  falling  off 
one  of  these  great  bergs  ;  a  smaller  more 
weather-beaten  berg  splitting  in  two  ;  and,  on 
another  occasion,  a  berg  turning  turtle.  In 
each  case  a  great  wave  was  generated,  and 
had  our  ship  been  in  too  close  proximity  it 
would  certainly  have  resulted  in  serious  damage 
and  probable  loss  of  life,  if  not  total  destruction. 
Several  Antarctic  ships  have  had  narrow 
escapes  when  navigating,  under  force  of  cir- 
cumstances, during  dark  nights  in  the  vicinity 
of  these  great  bergs  ;  the  serious  collision  of 
Ross's  ships  among  a  chain  of  bergs  during  a 
hard  gale  on  a  dark  night,  was  an  instance 
as  notable  as  their  miraculous  escape.  On 
this  terrible  night  the  Erebus  was  trying  to 
weather  a  berg  when  it  was  observed  that  the 
Terror  was  running  down  upon  her.  It  was 
impossible  for  the  Terror  to  clear  both  the  Erebus 


48  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

and  the  berg  ;  collision  was  inevitable.  Ross 
graphically  describes  the  incident,  and  says, 
"We  instantly  hove  all  aback  to  diminish  the 
violence  of  the  shock  ;  but  the  concussion 
when  she  struck  us,  was  such  as  to  throw  almost 
every  one  off  his  feet  ;  our  bowsprit,  fore- 
topmast,  and  other  smaller  spars,  were  carried 
away  ;  and  the  two  ships  hanging  together, 
entangled  by  their  rigging,  and  dashing  against 
each  other  with  fearful  violence,  were  falling 
down  upon  the  lofty  berg  under  our  lee,  against 
which  the  waves  were  breaking  and  foaming 
to  near  the  summit  of  its  perpendicular  cliffs. 
Sometimes  she  rose  high  above  us,  almost 
exposing  her  keel  to  view,  and  again  descended 
as  we  in  our  turn  rose  to  the  top  of  the  wave, 
threatening  to  bury  her  beneath  us,  whilst 
the  crashing  of  the  breaking  upper  works  and 
boats  increased  the  horror  of  the  scene.  Provi- 
dentially they  gradually  forged  past  each  other, 
and  separated  before  we  drifted  down  amongst 
the  foaming  breakers,  and  we  had  the  gratifi- 
cation of  seeing  her  clear  the  end  of  the  berg, 
and  of  feeling  that  she  was  safe.  But  she  left 
us  completely  disabled  ;  the  wreck  of  the  spars 
so  encumbered  the  lower  yards,  that  we  were 
unable  to  make  sail,  so  as  to  get  headway  on 
the  ship  ;  nor  had  we  room  to  wear  round, 
being  by  this  time  so  close  to  the  berg  that  the 
waves,  when  they  struck  against  it,  threw  back 


LAND  ICE  49 

their  sprays  into  the  ship.  The  only  way  left 
to  us  to  extricate  ourselves  from  this  awful 
and  appalling  situation  was  by  resorting  to 
the  hazardous  expedient  of  a  stern-board,  which 
nothing  could  justify  during  such  a  gale  and 
with  so  high  a  sea  running,  but  to  avert  the 
danger  which  every  moment  threatened  us  of 
being  dashed  to  pieces.  The  heavy  rolling 
of  the  vessel,  and  the  probability  of  the  masts 
giving  way  each  time  the  lower  yard-arms 
struck  against  the  cliffs,  which  were  towering 
high  above  our  mast-heads,  rendered  it  a  service 
of  extreme  danger  to  loose  the  mainsail  ;  but 
no  sooner  was  the  order  given,  than  the  daring 
spirit  of  the  British  seaman  manifested  itself 
— the  men  ran  up  the  rigging  with  as  much 
alacrity  as  on  any  ordinary  occasion  ;  and 
although  more  than  once  driven  off  the  yard, 
they  after  a  short  time  succeeded  hi  loosing 
the  sail.  Amidst  the  roar  of  the  wind  and 
sea  it  was  difficult  both  to  hear  and  to  execute 
the  orders  that  were  given,  so  that  it  was  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  before  we  could  get  the 
yards  braced  bye,  and  the  maintack  hauled 
on  board  sharp  aback — an  expedient  that 
perhaps  had  never  before  been  resorted  to  by 
seamen  in  such  weather  :  but  it  had  the  desired 
effect  ;  the  ship  gathered  stern-way,  plunging 
her  stern  into  the  sea,  washing  away  the  gig 
and  quarter  boats,  and,  with  her  lower  yard- 


50  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

arms  scraping  the  rugged  face  of  the  berg,  we 
in  a  few  minutes  reached  its  western  termina- 
tion ;  the  'under  tow,'  as  it  is  called,  or  the 
reaction  of  the  water  from  its  vertical  cliffs, 
alone  preventing  us  being  driven  to  atoms 
against  it.  No  sooner  had  we  cleared  it  than 
another  was  seen  directly  astern  of  us,  against 
which  we  were  running ;  and  the  difficulty 
now  was  to  get  the  ship's  head  turned  round 
and  pointed  fairly  through  between  the  two 
bergs,  the  breadth  of  the  intervening  space 
not  exceeding  three  times  her  own  breadth  ; 
this,  however,  we  happily  accomplished  ;  and 
in  a  few  minutes,  after  getting  the  wind,  she 
dashed  through  the  narrow  channel  between 
two  perpendicular  walls  of  ice,  and  the  foaming 
breakers  which  stretched  across  it,  and  the 
next  minute  we  were  in  smooth  water  under 
its  lee. 

"A  cluster  of  bergs  was  seen  to  windward 
extending  as  far  as  the  eye  could  discern,  and 
so  closely  connected,  that,  except  the  small 
opening  by  which  we  had  escaped,  they  appeared 
to  form  an  unbroken  continuous  line  ;  it  seems, 
therefore,  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  col- 
lision with  the  Terror  was  the  means  of  our 
preservation,  by  forcing  us  backwards  to  the 
only  practicable  channel,  instead  of  permitting 
us,  as  we  were  endeavouring,  to  run  to  the 
eastward,  and  become  entangled  in  a  labyrinth 


LAND  ICE  51 

of  heavy  bergs,  from  which  escape  might  have 
been  impracticable,  or  perhaps  impossible." 

The  Challenger,  too,  had  uncomfortable  expe- 
riences on  February  24,  1874,  when  the  late 
Professor  Moseley  relates  "it  blew  a  gale,  with 
dry  drifting  snow  obscuring  the  view  and  ren- 
dering it  impossible  to  see  for  a  greater  distance 
than  200  or  300  yards."  After  having  failed 
to  fasten  on  under  the  lee  of  a  berg,  "either  a 
back  current  set  the  ship  on  to  the  berg,  or  the 
berg  itself  was  drifting  towards  us  with  the 
wind  more  rapidly  than  was  expected.  A  col- 
lision ensued  and  the  jibboom  was  forced  against 
the  side  of  the  berg  and  broken,  together  with 
some  parts  of  the  rigging  in  connection  with  it. 
The  end  of  the  jibboom  left  a  starlike  mark  on 
the  sloping  wall  of  the  berg,  but  had  no  other 
effect  on  the  mass.  The  men  who  were  aloft 
reefing  the  topsails,  came  down  the  back  stays 
helter-skelter,  expecting  the  top-gallant  masts 
to  fall,  but  no  further  damage  ensued. 

"The  weather  became  worse,"  continues 
Moseley  ;  "we  were  in  rather  a  critical  posi- 
tion. We  were  surrounded  by  bergs,  with 
the  weather  so  thick  with  snow  that  we  could 
not  see  more  than  a  ship's  length,  and  a  heavy 
gale  was  blowing.  The  full  power  of  steam 
available  was  employed.  Once  we  had  a  narrow 
escape  of  running  into  a  large  berg,  passing 
only  just  about  100  yards  to  leeward  of  it  by 


52  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

making  a  stern-board,  with  all  sails  aback, 
and  screwing  full  speed  astern  at  the  same  time. 
The  deck  was  covered  with  frozen  powdery 
snow,  and  forward  was  coated  with  ice  from 
the  shipping  of  seas." 

The  following  day  the  Challenger  had  forty 
icebergs  in  sight  at  noon. 

At  the  end  of  March  1903,  whilst  looking 
for  a  harbour  in  the  South  Orkneys,  we  had 
four  anxious  days  and  nights  on  board  the 
Scotia,  navigating  amongst  bergs  in  dirty 
weather,  and  on  the  22nd  of  March  1903 
narrowly  escaped  shipwreck  by  collision  with 
an  iceberg.  The  nights  at  this  time  were  very- 
dark  and  of  full  twelve  hours'  duration,  and  it 
was  blowing  almost  continually  with  fog  and 
driving  snow,  especially  when  we  came  near 
the  land.  All  day  in  such  weather  we  would 
approach  the  land  cautiously,  looking  in  vain 
to  find  a  safe  harbour  where  the  Scotia  might 
winter  ;  and  at  night,  to  prevent  being  driven 
ashore,  we  would  steam  out  to  sea.  To  the 
north  of  the  South  Orkneys  at  this  time  the 
sea  was  clear  of  pack  ice,  but  it  was  full  of 
bergs,  and  the  greatest  vigilance  had  to  be 
shown.  On  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  March 
the  22nd,  while  endeavouring  to  discover 
Lethewaite  Strait,  the  squalls  became  exceed- 
ingly violent,  accompanied  by  snow  and  very 
heavy,  blinding  drift  from  the  high  mountains 


LAND  ICE  53 

of  Coronation  Island.  Suddenly,  there  seemed 
to  be  a  lull  in  the  wind,  and  the  sea  became 
smooth  as  glass — an  ominous  sign,  for  we  had 
assuredly  come  under  the  lee  of  a  berg  or  high 
land.  "Hard-a-port  !"  was  Captain  Robert- 
son's swift  order,  and  we  swung  round,  and  in 
doing  so  there  loomed  up  on  the  port  side  the 
grim  icy  cliff  of  a  huge  berg,  which  almost  grazed 
our  yard-arms.  Nothing  but  the  able  handling 
of  the  ship  by  my  officers  and  crew,  and  their 
long  experience  of  navigating  among  ice  could 
have  saved  us  from  a  most  deadly  collision, 
if  not  shipwreck  :  soon  after,  as  the  drift  dimin- 
ished, we  sighted  another  berg  to  leeward,  and 
a  little  later,  when  it  cleared,  we  found  we  were 
completely  surrounded  by  bergs. 

Having  dealt  with  Antarctic  icebergs,  let 
us  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  other  forms 
of  ice  I  have  mentioned.  Apart  from  icebergs, 
all  other  Antarctic  and  indeed  Polar  ice  is  a 
product  of  the  sea  and  not  the  land. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SEA    ICE    AND    COLORATION    OF    ICE    AND    SNOW 

AT  almost  any  time  during  even  a  summer 
cruise,  when  there  is  a  perfect  calm  and  when 
the  sun  is  low  during  the  night,  there  may  be 
found  under  the  shadow  of  loose  pieces  of  ice, 
which  gently  rest  upon  a  glassy  sea,  newly- 
formed  fine  ice  spicules  floating  on  the  surface  : 
these  ice  spicules  are  dissipated  when  the  rays 
of  the  sun  play  once  more  on  the  surface  of 
the  water.  If  the  temperature  of  the  water 
be  taken  at  such  a  time  it  will  be  found  to  be 
about  29°  F.,  which  is  therefore  clearly  about 
the  temperature  at  which  the  polar  seas  begin 
to  freeze.  That  is  to  say,  about  3°  F.,  below 
the  freezing-point  of  fresh  water,  which,  as 
the  reader  will  know,  freezes  at  32°  F. 

Now,  if  the  temperature  of  the  air  falls  con- 
siderably below  28°  F.,  say  to  15°  F.,  these 
ice  spicules  or  crystals  increase  very  rapidly, 
and  the  whole  surface  of  the  sea  becomes  cov- 
ered with  a  considerable  layer  of  them,  which 
is  known  by  polar  seamen  as  "Bay  ice."  If 
there  is  a  snow  shower  the  snow  mixes  with 
54 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        55 

these  crystals  and  does  not  melt,  but  becomes 
part  and  parcel  of  this  bay  ice  and  is  termed 
"slush."  This  may  increase  in  thickness  up 
to,  say,  3  or  4  inches.  If  wind  arises  and  sea 
is  thrown  into  waves,  it  is  found  that  the 
crystals  are  all  separate  and  that  the  bay  ice 
or  slush  is  quite  mobile,  but  it  is  not  so  mobile 
as  the  water  without  crystals,  the  shape  of  the 
waves  being  less  sharp.  In  fact,  the  waves 
have  an  oily  motion  in  a  slush-covered  sea. 
If  one  tries  to  pull  in  a  boat,  the  pulling  is 
found  to  be  very  heavy,  and  even  the  way  of 
a  large  ship  with  good  steam  power  is  seriously 
impeded.  The  water  is,  in  fact,  "gluey."  The 
"slush"  may  include  in  it  any  small  fragments 
of  ice  that  are  floating  on  the  sea  at  the  time. 
Should  there  be  a  sudden  lowering  of  the  air- 
temperature  with  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  then  the 
slush  is  formed  in  greater  part  of  snow  crystals, 
but  has  essentially  the  same  qualities,  except 
that  it  may  be  slightly  more  disintegrated  than 
simple  bay  ice. 

If  the  weather  is  stormy  and  the  water  is 
considerably  disturbed,  though  the  slush  in- 
creases considerably  the  spicules  of  ice  and 
snow  are  evidently  more  or  less  free,  though 
the  water  continues  to  become  more  and  more 
gluey  and  waves  become  less  and  less  pro- 
nounced: but,  if  it  is  calm  weather,  the  crystals 
become  entangled  in  somewhat  fixed  positions, 


56  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

and  adhering  to  each  other  the  slush  becomes 
a  plastic  crust  on  the  surface,  even  less  than 
an  inch  thick.  This  newly-formed  sheet  of 
ice  is  known  as  "Bay  ice,"  because  naturally 
it  forms  more  easily  in  sheltered  bays.  Any 
new  ice,  from  the  thinnest  film  to  ice  of,  say, 
6  to  8  inches  in  thickness,  is  termed  "Bay  ice." 
An  ordinary  wooden  ice  ship  forges  its  way 
through  it  by  continuously  steaming  ahead. 
Until  this  bay  ice  is  some  4  or  5  inches  thick 
it  has  a  black  appearance,  being  more  or  less 
translucent.  But  when  it  becomes  thicker  and 
more  securely  frozen  together  with  some  sharp 
frost  it  becomes  whiter. 

A  ship  steaming  through  "Black  ice"  cuts 
through  it  as  through  a  sticky  scum,  leaving 
a  blacker  lane  of  water  astern,  exactly  the 
width  of  the  ship,  which  does  not  close  up  until 
frozen  over  again.  But  through  the  thicker 
and  more  rigid  "White  ice"  as  the  ship  steams 
ahead  a  long  split  is  formed  ahead  of  her,  through 
which  she  is  able  to  forge  her  way.  This  more 
completely  formed  white  ice  is  often  easier  for 
navigating  a  ship  through,  because  it  is  more 
brittle  than  the  thinner  black  ice,  which  is 
gluey  in  texture. 

Now,  if  the  water  remain  calm  very  striking 
and  beautiful  developments  occur.  There  is 
always  some  horizontal  motion  in  the  surface 
of  the  sea,  even  if  it  is  a  glassy  calm,  owing  to 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        57 

currents  or  change  of  tide  or  other  causes.  For 
one  of  these  reasons,  the  surface  water  spreads 
itself  out  by  flowing  away  from  one  position 
a  little  more  rapidly  than  the  surface  water 
at  its  rear  is  making  up  upon  it,  possibly  on 
account  of  the  dividing  of  the  tides  or  a  slight 
air  blowing  in  a  contrary  direction  in  one 
quarter  to  that  in  the  other;  or  it  may  be  due 
to  one  of  those  delicate  air-currents  that  one 
sees  looking  over  a  glassy  Scottish  loch,  which 
by  mere  chance  enables  one  fairy  yacht  to  move 
ahead  of  its  becalmed  fellows  not  many  hundred 
yards  distant.  Then  the  crust  divides  into 
thousands  of  hexagonal  discs  from  about  an 
inch  to  several  feet  in  diameter,  the  diameter 
increasing  with  the  thickness  of  the  bay  ice  ; 
in  between  the  discs,  the  shiny  black  lines  of 
water  broaden  into  wide  lanes,  and  the  surface 
of  the  sea  is  like  a  patchwork  quilt.  Now, 
some  slight  disturbance  occurs,  a  little  wind 
or  tide,  which  causes  the  surface  waters  to  come 
together  again,  the  more  or  less  hexagonal 
ice  discs  hustle  together,  their  delicate  sides 
and  corners  are  crushed  and  broken,  and  are 
curled  up  by  the  pressure.  Thus  they  become 
subangular  discs,  each  with  a  flat  interior  and 
a  bruised  turned-up  edge,  like  a  pancake.  Again 
the  motion  of  the  surface  of  the  water,  due  as 
often  as  not  to  tide,  separates  these  discs  ; 
again  they  are  hustled  together  and  bruised 


58  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

and  get  their  edges  still  more  turned  up.  This 
goes  on  continually,  and  meanwhile  the  discs 
are  thickening  and  solidifying  with  the  con- 
tinued low  temperature.  This  ice  is  known  as 
"Pancake  ice." 

By  continued  and  increased  frost  the  edges 
of  the  pancakes  get  frozen  together  and  the 
whole  surface  of  the  sea  has  a  continuous  sheet 
of  ice,  only  to  be  broken  up  again,  however, 
into  fresh  though  larger  hexagons,  which  in 
turn  are  hustled  together  and  form  magnified 
pancakes  many  feet  in  diameter.  These  require 
greater  force,  as  they  increase  in  thickness 
and  solidity,  to  break  up  again,  until  eventually 
they  remain  together  in  one  great  solid  sheet 
which  nothing  but  a  heavy  gale  and  a  tremen- 
dous sea  will  break  into  pieces.  Those  great 
sheets  of  ice,  often  many  miles — it  may  be 
even  hundreds  of  miles — in  extent,  are  known 
in  general  terms  as  "Floes,"  or  "Field  ice," 
"Floe  ice"  usually  being  employed  when  they 
are  less  extensive,  the  term  "Field  ice"  for  ice 
that  stretches  unbroken  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  eye  from  the  crow's-nest. 

A  "Land  floe"  is  a  floe  that  is  formed  next 
the  land  and  that  remains  fast  to  the  land,  if 
the  weather  is  light,  during,  it  may  be,  the 
whole  of  the  following  summer.  Such  a  floe 
continues  to  increase  in  thickness  during  the 
second  winter,  but  it  is  unlikely  that  the  weather 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        59 

will  be  so  favourable  as  to  allow  this  "land 
floe"  to  survive  a  second  summer.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  first  year's  floe  may  rot 
away  entirely  during  the  first  summer  after 
its  formation.  I  saw  this  happen  in  Franz 
Josef  Land  during  the  summer  of  1897  to  a 
land  floe  that  I  had  watched  from  its  birth  to 
its  disintegration,  from  the  time  the  first 
"bay  ice"  was  forming  on  the  calm  surface, 
through  the  period  when  the  ice  was  thick 
and  solid,  until  it  had  rotted  entirely  away. 

The  surface  of  such  a  primitive  floe  is  as 
level  as  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and  before  the 
winter  snows  and  the  drift  from  the  land  or 
other  parts  of  the  same  floe  cover  it,  it  has  the 
texture  of  a  good  Brussels  carpet  on  the  surface. 
It  is  never  smooth  or  glassy  like  the  ice  formed 
on  the  surface  of  fresh  water.  One  cannot 
curl,  slide,  or  skate  upon  it.  Ski  stick  on  it 
and  sledges  will  not  glide  over  it.  The  surface 
is  sticky,  and  even  at  low  temperatures  it  wets 
through  the  thin  soles  of  fur  boots  and  proves 
very  destructive  to  them.  It  has  a  sort  of 
efflorescent  appearance  and  a  saltish  taste. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  saltest  layer  of  the  floe,  which 
may  freeze  to  a  thickness  of  5  or  6  feet;  some- 
times less  thick  when  strong  currents  flow  un- 
der its  surface,  sometimes  of  greater  thickness 
in  sheltered  lochs  and  bays.  But  while  the 
surface  of  the  floe  is  very  salt,  if  a  piece  of 


60  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

ice  be  taken  out  of  any  intermediate  part  it 
is  found  to  be  relatively  fresh,  certainly  not 
nearly  so  salt  as  the  sea  itself. 

I  shall  return  later  on  to  this  interesting 
question  of  the  saltness  of  sea  ice,  at  present 
I  wish  to  deal  only  with  general  naked-eye 
structure.  It  can  be  seen  that  this  ice  is  much 
more  plastic  than  fresh-water  ice.  Fresh-water 
ice  is  relatively  brittle,  even  in  thin  layers. 
Fresh-water  ice,  of  the  thickness  of  about  2| 
or  3  inches,  will  bear  the  weight  of  a  man,  but 
a  child's  foot  would  sink  through  sea  ice  of 
similar  thickness,  as  if  going  through  a  layer 
of  tough  glue.  You  can  push  a  stick  through 
it,  and  a  seal  can  push  his  nose  and  head  through 
from  below  to  get  a  breath. 

Now,  if  there  be  a  slightly  undulating  swell 
running  under  this  new  ice  one  sees  the  ice 
following  the  same  motion,  but  to  a  less 
marked  degree.  But  the  thicker  and  more 
solid  the  ice,  the  more  resistance  is  offered, 
until  there  comes  a  point  where  the  sea-swell 
is  killed.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  motion 
of  the  sea  be  more  violent  the  more  solid  fields 
and  floes  are  strained  to  breaking-point,  and 
split  up,  first  into  small  floes  of  a  mile  or  two 
or  at  least  several  hundreds  of  feet  in  diameter, 
and  these  in  their  turn  being  repeatedly  strained, 
twisted,  and  hurled  in  the  wild  confusion  of 
the  storm  against  each  other,  against  bergs  or 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        61 

against  a  rocky  shore,  get  broken  up  into  thou- 
sands of  pieces  only  a  few  feet  in  diameter. 
This  broken-up  ice  is  known  as  "Pack  ice." 
During  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice,  the  floes 
crush  together  and  their  edges  are  broken  and 
curled  and  piled  with  the  pressure.  Farther 
away  from  the  open  sea,  well  in  among  the 
solid  floes,  this  pressure  is  very  heavy  and  one 
floe  may  run  over  and  another  under  the  other. 
The  edges  of  an  extended  crack,  that  has  formed 
in  a  weak  place,  curl  over  and  over  and  a  long 
ridge  of  broken-up  ice  is  the  result.  These 
ridges  are  known  as  "Pressure  ridges,"  and 
the  irregular  piles  of  ice  of  which  they  are 
formed,  or  similar  piles  of  ice  formed  along 
the  edges  of  smaller  free-floating  floes,  or  the 
piles  of  ice  that  are  formed  by  the  pieces  of 
pack  ice  that  get  heaped  upon  each  other  are 
known  as  "Hummocky  ice"  or  simply  "Hum- 
mocks." 

This  irregular  conglomeration  freezes  together 
again  almost  immediately  if  it  is  winter,  and 
indeed  it  needs  very  tempestuous  sea  and 
weather  conditions  to  break  up  the  solid  con- 
tinuous floe  in  winter.  The  usual  time  of 
break-up  is  in  the  spring,  when  with  rising 
temperatures  the  sea  ice  is  becoming  rotten. 

"Brash  ice"  is  ice  that  is  usually  met  with 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  pack.  It  js  the  remnant 
of  the  fray,  being  composed  of  a  chaotic  col- 


62  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

lection  of  small  subangular  pieces  from  a  few 
feet  in  diameter  to  an  inch  or  two,  which  have 
been  broken  off  all  kinds  of  larger  pieces  during 
their  battle  with  the  wind  and  sea  and  with 
one  another. 

In  the  autumn,  especially  with  the  increas- 
ingly stormy  weather,  the  pack  ice  is  jammed 
up  together.  Irregular  pieces  of  all  sizes  and 
shapes  are  huddled  together:  fragments  of  the 
new  floe  of  the  previous  year,  fragments  of 
hummocky  ice,  fragments  of  ice  that  have 
been  thickened  by  the  frosts  of  two  or  three 
winters,  fragments  of  over-ridden  floes,  bergy 
bits  broken  off  icebergs,  and  brash  ice.  All 
this  ice,  each  piece  different  from  its  neighbour, 
is  driven  together  by  the  wind  and  sea,  and 
is  formed  into  "streams"  of  ice,  which  always 
lie  at  right  angles  to  the  wind  and  which  may 
be  many  miles  in  length.  Loose  pieces  of  ice 
in  the  open  sea,  on  the  weather  side  of  these 
"streams,"  are  driven  before  the  wind  more 
quickly  than  the  stream  itself,  and  are  ulti- 
mately driven  into  the  stream  and  form  part 
of  it.  Pieces  on  the  lee  side,  however,  do  not 
readily  get  driven  off,  as  they  are  protected 
from  wind  and  sea  by  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  stream,  thus  the  stream  increases  in  size. 
The  stream  which  lies  farthest  to  windward 
drives  faster  and  is  driven  on  to  the  stream 
under  its  lee.  Stream  joins  stream,  and  as 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        63 

the  storm  increases  we  have  a  formidable 
"body  of  ice"  many  miles  in  width  as  well 
as  breadth.  This  pack  drives  on  and  on, 
resistless  and  all-conquering,  until  it  is  checked 
in  its  steady  career  by  meeting  another  solid 
pack,  or  by  the  land,  or,  in  the  Antarctic,  by 
one  of  those  giant  bergs.  Confusion  arises; 
the  ice  piles  itself  high  up  on  the  land — great 
heaps  of  even  20  or  30  feet  high  being  formed. 
Here  it  may  remain  for  many  a  year  before 
it  is  finally  dissipated.  I  have  seen  this  occur 
more  than  once.  If  it  is  driven  against  the 
vertical  cliff  of  an  Antarctic  berg  or  against 
the  face  of  a  barrier  like  the  Ross  Barrier,  it 
will  curl  up  the  face  of  the  cliff  and  fall  back 
again  upon  itself  in  a  confused  heap.  If  a  ship 
is  between  it  and  the  land,  the  ship  will  be 
hurled  ashore  and  no  human  effort  can  do 
anything  to  avert  such  a  disaster.  This  has 
frequently  happened.  In  recent  times,  the  Alert 
was  driven  ashore  with  the  pack  at  Rawlings 
Bay  in  Kennedy  Channel,  in  1876,  and  the 
Stella  Polaris  at  Teplitz  Bay,  in  Franz  Josef 
Land,  in  1899. 

A  ship  may  be  lying  against  a  floe,  perhaps 
fastened  to  a  land  floe,  when  the  pack  drives 
down  upon  it  and  it  is  caught;  or,  more  deadly 
still,  between  two  floes,  when  the  pack  drives 
down  upon  the  outer  one,  drives  it  on,  and 
the  ship  is  crushed  to  matchwood  between 


64  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  two,  unless — as  happened  with  the  Scotia 
off  Coats  Land — she  is  so  constructed  that 
when  the  "nip"  comes  she  rises  to  it,  and  is 
heaved  out  on  the  top  of  the  ice,  the  floe  and 
pack  driving  under  her,  leaving  her  high  and 
dry,  but  safe  and  sound.  Nothing  can  stop 
the  oncoming  pack  except  the  land  itself  or 
a  change  of  wind  or  tide.  Sometimes  the  pack 
moves  onwards  even  in  fine  weather  ;  this 
means  that  there  has  been  wind  not  very  far 
off  which  has  set  the  distant  pack  moving, 
its  motion  being  transmitted  to  the  entire  body 
of  ice. 

With  the  lulling  of  wind  comes  a  change. 
The  ice  which  has  been  forced  together  opens 
up,  lanes  of  calm  water  appear  and  smaller 
channels,  till  every  piece  of  ice  is  more  or 
less  separated  from  its  neighbour.  The  scene 
is  altogether  changed.  As  the  white  ice  floats 
in  the  clear  blue  waters,  one  can  scarcely 
realise  that  these  same  elements  were  not  long 
since  playing  such  a  very  different  r61e.  Now 
all  this  loose  pack  will  with  the  advent  of  cold 
wintry  weather  be  frozen  together,  the  lanes 
of  water  will  be  covered  once  more  with  young 
or  bay  ice.  Wind  and  weather  may  pack  it 
closer  together,  the  plastic  new  ice  giving  way 
with  the  old  ice  embedded  in  its  matrix.  The 
whole  becomes  a  solid  floe,  and  many  floes 
unite  and  form  great  "fields"  of  ice.  This 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION         65 

field  ice  is  more  formidable  than  the  fields  and 
floes  of  new  ice  that  are  formed  during  a  single 
winter,  and  which  during  the  following  summer 
are  known  by  polar  voyagers  as  "one-year 
ice."  At  the  beginning  of  winter  they  may 
show  a  thickness  of  possibly  five  or  perhaps 
ten  feet,  and  in  places  there  will  be  even 
thicker  pieces.  Then  comes  a  whole  winter's 
intense  frost,  snow  falls  and  adds  to  the  weight 
and  thickness,  and  when  this  ice  breaks  up 
the  following  spring  we  have  a  really  formida- 
ble pack  to  encounter.  When  such  pack  ice 
is  not  very  open,  but  still  open  enough  for  a 
protected  ship  to  work  its  way  through,  the 
ship  has  to  be  handled  with  the  greatest  care 
even  when  navigating  through  it  in  fine  weather. 
This  ice  cannot  be  charged  indiscriminately 
like  one-year  ice,  and  one  must  be  able  to 
distinguish  between  one  piece  of  ice  and 
another.  This  can  only  be  done  by  one  who 
has  had  many  years  of  experience  of  polar 
ice-navigation. 

One  piece,  a  heavy-looking  mass,  may  be 
charged  and  will  be  shattered  ;  another,  a 
wise  ice-master  will  avoid  charging  because 
he  knows  it  is  of  steely  hardness  and  that  his 
ship  will  make  no  impression  upon  it.  A 
careful  ice-master  never  touches  a  piece  of 
ice  if  he  can  avoid  doing  so  at  any  time,  in 
spite  of  his  stout  ship,  the  full  strength  and 


66  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

power  of  which  is  needed  when  he  is  forced 
to  work  his  way  through  tight  ice  and  heavy 
ice,  through  which  a  novice  would  never 
dream  a  ship  could  pass.  A  good  ice-master 
will  nose  his  ship  through  ice  that  would 
seem  to  one  without  experience  navigating 
amongst  it  absolutely  impenetrable,  and  he 
will  go  through  narrow  lanes  that  are  not  as 
broad  as  the  beam  of  his  ship,  first  getting 
the  starboard  bow  of  the  ship  against  an 
obstinate  heavy  piece  and  working  it  away 
in  among  its  fellows  and  then  pushing  another 
piece  similarly  aside  with  the  port  bow.  Then 
the  ship  is  brought  to  a  standstill  with  the 
engines  going  full  speed,  till  bit  by  bit  one 
sees  a  heavy  floe  beginning  to  rotate,  and 
finally,  by  its  motion  and  momentum,  clearing 
a  way,  through  which  the  good  ship  steams 
ahead.  Now  possibly  comes  a  difficult  place  : 
two  heavy  floes  have  met  at  two  points  and 
there  is  open  water  beyond  ;  screwing  the 
ship  is  of  no  avail,  the  engines  are  stopped 
and  reversed  when  the  order  of  "go  astern" 
is  given.  Then  she  charges  full  speed  at  the 
"neck  of  ice,"  and  when  the  shock  comes 
trembles  from  stem  to  stern,  the  mast  and 
yards  shake  violently  and  the  crew  are  almost 
thrown  off  their  feet,  but  there  is  no  visible 
effect  on  the  ice.  This  operation  is  repeated 
a  second  and  a  third  time,  and  the  narrow 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        67 

neck  of  ice  between  the  two  floes  shows  signs 
of  cracking.  Once  more  astern  !  Once  more 
full  speed  ahead  !  The  ice  shivers,  the  neck 
breaks,  and  the  gallant  ship  is  in  the  open 
water  that  she  has  fought  so  hard  to  reach. 

But  it  may  happen  that  the  task  is  hope- 
less, that  too  much  valuable  coal  would  be 
spent  to  accomplish  the  breaking  of  such  a 
neck  between  two  floes,  and  in  that  case  the 
ship  retreats  and  goes  round  the  end  of  the 
floe  instead.  Or,  if  that  seems  of  no  avail, 
the  ice-anchor  is  dropped  over  the  ship's 
bows  and  she  is  made  fast  to  the  floe.  There 
she  waits,  the  skipper  takes  a  meal  and  perhaps 
a  sleep  while  his  trusted  mates  watch  develop- 
ments. A  change  of  tide  or  wind,  perhaps 
three  or  four  hours  later  or  perhaps  twenty- 
four  hours  later,  causes  the  ice  to  slacken,  and, 
without  any  effort,  the  ship  steams  through 
what  was  only  a  short  time  before  an  impene- 
trable part  of  the  pack.  Long  experience  of 
ice,  good  judgment,  cool-headedness,  and 
indomitable  patience  are  the  leading  qualities 
of  a  good  ice-navigator. 

In  the  Arctic  Regions  the  floes  and  pack 
ice  are  essentially  the  same  as  in  the  Antarctic 
Regions,  except  that  there  is  more  snow  on 
the  floes,  and  consequently  also  on  the  pack, 
in  the  Antarctic  Regions.  In  the  Arctic  Regions 
the  snow  on  the  floes  is  not  only  less,  but  is 


68  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

more  consolidated  and  firm  enough  to  walk 
upon  ;  the  snow  is  often  very  soft  on  the 
Antarctic  floes.  In  the  summer  of  1892  and 
1893,  when  cruising  in  Erebus  and  Terror  Gulf, 
I  sank  to  my  knees  when  walking  on  the  floes 
or  pack,  and  the  sealers  often  had  hard  work 
in  dragging  the  skins  of  the  slaughtered  seals 
to  the  water's  edge.  The  amount  and  softness 
of  the  snow  doubtlessly  vary  in  different  years 
and  different  places,  but  there  is,  as  a  rule,  more 
and  softer  snow  on  the  floes  in  the  south  than 
in  the  north. 

In  summer  it  is  warmer  in  the  Arctic  than 
the  Antarctic,  and  the  sun  melts  pools  on  the 
surface  of  the  floes  and  pack.  In  this  greater 
surface-melting  the  snow  layer  is  diminished 
greatly  during  the  summer  months  in  the 
Arctic.  I  never  met  with  pools  of  water  on 
Antarctic  pack  ice,  though  such  may  occur. 
These  pools  of  water  on  the  ice  in  the  Arctic 
Regions  are  in  most  cases  composed  of  fresh 
water,  so  much  so  that  when  there  is  a  con- 
siderable pool  conveniently  situated  a  whaler 
or  exploring  ship  will  fasten  the  ship  on  to  the 
piece  of  pack  or  floe  with  her  ice-anchors,  and 
will,  by  means  of  the  hose  and  pump,  or  by 
buckets,  fill  up  the  fresh-water  tanks.  This 
water  makes  perfect  drinking  water,  far  finer 
than  can  be  got  in  any  seaport.  To  know 
that  there  is  always  in  readiness  a  perfect 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        69 

supply  of  the  most  excellent  fresh  water  is 
one  of  the  greatest  boons  to  ships  navigating 
in  the  Arctic  Regions,  and  a  luxury  which  is 
forbidden  to  ships  navigating  in  other  seas. 
In  the  Antarctic,  since  one  seldom  or  never 
meets  with  such  pools,  one  has  to  pick  out  a 
nice  old  hummocky  piece  of  sea  ice  or  a  bergy 
bit  that  has  been  chipped  off  one  of  the  great 
bergs,  and  take  some  boat-loads  of  this  ice 
on  board.  The  ice  is  put  into  large  tubs  or 
barrels,  and  steam  is  blown  through.  It  rapidly 
melts,  and  is  led  away  into  the  ship's  tanks 
and  makes  most  excellent  water.  There  is 
no  excuse  for  a  ship  having  bad  drinking  water 
on  board  in  the  Polar  Regions.  Through  the 
entire  winter  in  Franz  Josef  Land  in  1896  and 
1897,  at  our  encampment  at  Cape  Flora,  we 
had  a  huge  barrel  inside  the  house  not  far  off 
from  the  stove.  Every  morning  after  break- 
fast, it  was  regularly  filled  with  compact  blocks 
of  consolidated  snow  that  were  quarried  out 
of  neighbouring  gullies.  This  snow  kept  melt- 
ing all  day  and  night,  and  there  was  thus  a 
constant  supply  of  good  water  available.  But 
during  the  wintering  of  the  Scottish  National 
Antarctic  Expedition,  when  the  Scotia  was 
frozen  in  Scotia  Bay  for  eight  months,  sea 
ice  was  used  for  this  purpose.  A  good  old 
hummocky  piece  of  ice  would  be  selected  by 
an  officer,  and  then  at  seven  o'clock  every 


70  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

morning  all  hands  would  man  two  or  three 
sledges,  taking  with  them  picks  and  ice-drills, 
and  would  bring  several  loads  of  beautifully 
clear  blocks  of  ice  back  to  the  Scotia.  A  pile 
of  this  was  made  in  a  secure  place  on  deck, 
and  a  large  copper  cauldron  in  the  galley  was 
continuously  kept  full  of  beautifully  pure  fresh 
water  from  the  melting  of  this  ice. 

Be  it  specially  noted  that  during  the  whole 
of  this  time  we  used  sea  ice  for  drinking, 
cooking  and  washing,  and  that  fresh  water 
was  obtained  from  it  with  not  the  slightest 
taste  of  salt.  The  water  was  like  "soft  water"; 
when  mixed  with  soap  it  made  a  good  lather. 
Though  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  when  a 
delicate  chemical  test  was  performed  with 
nitrate  of  silver,  a  slightly  milky  appearance 
showed  itself  in  the  water,  demonstrating  that 
there  was  actually  an  infinitely  small  amount 
of  salt  present,  this  was  quite  insufficient  to 
be  detected  by  taste.  One  very  good  criterion 
of  the  purity  of  this  water  was  that  it  made 
excellent  tea,  and  if  anything  is  absolutely  spoilt 
by  the  presence  of  salt,  the  subtle  flavour  of 
good  tea  suffers  first.  The  absence  of  salt 
in  ice  that  is  formed  from  the  freezing  of  salt 
water  has  been  the  subject  of  long  and  most 
important  investigations  by  Mr.  J.  Y.  Buchanan 
(Ice  and  its  Natural  History,  Royal  Institution, 
May  8,  1908),  who  has  established  that  the 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        71 

crystals  formed  in  freezing  a  non-saturated 
saline  solution  are  pure  ice,  the  salt  from  which 
they  cannot  be  freed  belonging  to  the  adhering 
brine,  and  that  the  freezing-point  of  water 
is  lowered  by  the  presence  of  salt  or  other 
foreign  matter  dissolved  in  it.  Thus  it  may 
be  said  that,  in  nature,  ice  never  melts  and 
water  never  freezes  at  exactly  32°  F.  The 
melting-point  depends  on  the  medium  and  on 
the  pressure  to  which  the  ice  is  subjected.  If 
the  pressure  is  constant  it  varies  with  the  nature 
of  the  medium  ;  if  the  nature  of  the  medium 
is  constant  it  varies  with  the  pressure. 

The  reader  is  now  able  to  distinguish  the 
different  species  of  ice  met  with  in  polar  seas. 
The  chief  fact  to  be  noted  is  that,  in  these  seas, 
we  meet  with  two  kinds  of  ice,  the  one  having 
its  origin  in  the  sea  and  the  other  on  the  land 
or  in  the  air.  The  former  has  the  lower  melting- 
point  of  the  two  and  melts  first.  While  it  is 
melting  it  takes  all  the  heat  available  and  so 
preserves  the  fresh-water  ice,  which  melts  after 
all  the  salt-water  ice  is  gone.  In  old  hummocky 
ice  this  process  of  purification  has  been  going 
on  intermittently  whenever  the  weather  was 
warm  enough.  I  trust  I  have  made  these 
matters  plain,  but  it  is  impossible  by  words 
to  give  a  true  idea  of  the  marvellous  colour 
and  beauty  of  the  ice  in  polar  seas,  or  of  its 
irresistible  power  when  driven  hither  and  thither 


72  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

by  sea  and  wind.  There  can  be  no  more  terrific 
experience  than  a  storm  in  a  living  polar  pack. 
No  human  power  is  of  any  avail  in  resisting 
the  combined  onslaught  of  wind,  sea,  and 
heavy  ice. 

Yet  I  know  no  scene  more  wonderful  and 
more  stimulating  than  one  of  those  brilliant 
sunny  days  in  fine  weather  in  the  pack  either 
in  the  north  or  the  south.  The  dazzling  ice 
shines  like  brilliants  in  the  sun.  Seals  and 
penguins  on  the  ice  bask  in  the  sun  or  play 
around  pieces  of  pack  ice,  in  and  out,  and  over 
and  under  "tongues,"  in  the  intensely  clear 
and  often  intensely  bright  blue  water.  In  the 
south  small  shrimplike  creatures  (Euphausia), 
and  in  the  north  the  midget  polar  cod,  can 
be  seen  darting  about  in  and  out  of  the  honey- 
combed ice  tongues  projecting  under  water 
from  almost  every  piece  of  pack  ice,  probably 
sustaining  themselves  on  diatoms  and  other 
algae  that  are  there  too,  and  which  stain  the 
pure  ice  with  a  rusty  brown  colour  near  the 
surface  of  the  sea.  Snowy  petrels,  cape  pigeons, 
and  Wilson's  stormy  petrel  in  the  south,  and 
ivory  gulls,  kittiwakes  and  burgomaster  gulls 
in  the  north  fly  gaily  in  the  blue  sunlit  sky, 
speckled  with  thin  wisps  and  flakes  of  cirrus 
clouds.  Penguins  in  the  south  and  guillemots 
and  puffins  in  the  north  dart  like  torpedoes 
in  the  narrow  lanes  of  water,  only  coming  to 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        73 

the  surface  for  a  breath.  Every  living  thing 
seems  bright  and  gay,  stimulated  by  the 
brilliant  conditions  of  the  weather,  which 
seems  to  throw  crispness  and  life  into  the 
very  ice  itself,  and  makes  the  saddest  think 
that  there  is  joy  in  living. 

Then  the  scene  changes,  as  the  sun,  skirting 
the  horizon,  paints  the  white  ice  world  with 
colour,  with  tints  that  are  absolutely  beyond 
conception  if  you  have  not  seen  them,  and 
that  no  Ruskin  can  describe.  These  beau- 
tiful scenes — so  soft  and  so  delicate — produce 
impressions  that  can  never  be  obliterated  ; 
different  altogether  from  the  effect  produced 
by  the  brilliant  scene  described  above.  Sooth- 
ing— not  stimulating  !  Making  one  think  of 
the  world  as  kind  and  gentle,  recalling  the 
past,  picturing  the  future.  Making  one  think 
what  a  lonely  unit  one  is  in  this  world;  making 
one  compassionate  and  sympathetic  to  one's 
fellow  men. 

The  cold  grey  scene  depresses  the  spirit. 
The  air  is  motionless,  the  sea  of  oily  glassiness, 
and  a  dull  whitish  grey  mantle  of  fog  or  mist 
hides  everything  from  view,  except  the  ship's 
deck  and  a  few  pieces  of  white  ice  near  by, 
resting  in  dull  grey  water,  fading  away  indefi- 
nitely in  the  mist.  It  is  a  time  of  inaction  : 
there  is  no  object  to  go  in  one  direction  or 
another  :  nothing  can  be  seen  ahead.  Some- 


74  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

times  several  days  of  this  weather  continue, 
causing  forced  inaction,  and  one  feels  as  if  the 
rest  of  one's  life  was  to  be  spent  in  this  cold 
grey  mantle.  But  there  is  a  thinning  of  the 
mist  ;  a  gleam  of  the  hidden  sun  ;  and  a 
fog-bow  subtly  spreads  its  fairy  ring  upon  the 
evanescent  mist,  which  folds  itself  up  in  rolls 
and  vanishes,  and  once  more  there  is  a  brilliant 
world  of  sparkling  sunshine. 

In  the  Antarctic  Regions  almost  all  the  ice 
floating  in  the  sea,  whether  land  or  sea  ice, 
is  covered  at  sea-level  with  a  light  wash  of 
yellowish  brown  or  yellow  ochre.  The  bergs 
are  coloured  by  it  as  well  as  the  pack  ice, 
where  the  ice  is  lapped  by  the  sea.  When  a 
ship  charges  against  a  piece  of  one-year  pack 
ice,  the  ice  is  easily  broken  and  often  breaks 
not  only  vertically,  but  horizontally.  The 
horizontal  fracture  occurs  at  about  sea-level, 
and  there  is  revealed  a  continuous  layer  of 
this  ochreous  ice.  On  examination  it  is  found 
that  the  coloration  is  due  to  the  presence  of 
several  species  of  diatoms,  all  actively  living. 

If  the  reader  recalls  the  colour  of  a  polar 
bear,  he  will  know  that  the  colour  of  its  coat 
is  yellow  and  not  white.  The  coat  varies, 
in  fact,  from  being  very  nearly  white  at  the 
end  of  winter  and  early  spring  when  it  is  in 
its  finest  condition.  The  bear-hunters  well 
know  this,  several  times  the  price  being  obtained 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        75 

for  a  winter  skin  than  for  one  at  the  end  of 
summer,  when  it  is  actually  brownish  yellow. 
This  yellowness  is  more  marked  when  the  bear 
is  in  his  natural  surroundings  of  white  ice,  and 
at  first  sight  seems  anything  but  a  protective 
coloration.  Yet  when  an  old  Arctic  voyager 
shouts  "A  bear  !"  younger  hands  will  look 
a  while  before  they  see  the  heavy  monster  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards  off  on  a  floe,  and  it 
is  not  easy,  at  first,  to  account  for  this,  until 
looking  across  the  great  expanse  of  white  one 
sights  another  bear,  and  keeps  on  seeing 
imaginary  bears  for  a  long  time.  The  old 
veteran  smiles  and  simply  says,  "Yellow  ice." 
Then  the  novice  easily  accounts  for  his  wrong 
conclusion,  and  finds  that  there  are  patches 
of  yellow  ice  all  over  the  floe  just  the  colour 
of  a  polar  bear's  coat,  lighter  in  spring  when 
daylight  has  just  returned  and  when  winter 
snows  and  frosts  still  hold,  darker  in  summer 
like  the  bear's  dirty  summer  coat.  I  remember 
an  incident  on  board  the  Windward  in  1896, 
in  the  Barents  Sea.  All  hands  were  on  the 
poop  deck  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  while  the 
veteran  mate  was  conducting  a  short  service. 
Short  as  the  service  was,  our  mate  appeared 
unduly  anxious  to  get  it  over,  until,  with  a 
final  effort,  he  finished — for-ever-and-ever-Amen- 
there's-a-bear  !  The  old  boy  had  seen  the  bear 
shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  reading  till 


76  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  animal  was  within  a  hundred  yards  of  a 
congregation  of  twenty-five  men,  whose  eyes, 
it  must  be  confessed,  wandered  from  the  reader 
more  than  once,  but  not  one  of  whom  had  seen 
the  bear  though  he  was  in  full  view.  The 
change  of  scene  need  not  be  described  in  this 
place,  but  before  the  bear  was  within  thirty 
yards  of  the  ship,  he  lay  a  victim  to  the  devout 
mate  and  his  congregation.  Yellow  ice  was 
the  explanation! 

Now  if  some  of  this  ice  be  collected  and 
melted,  a  yellowish  deposit  is  left,  which  on 
microscopic  examination  is  found  to  be  com- 
posed mainly  of  diatoms.  These  diatoms  and 
other  algae  spread  themselves  over  the  entire 
surface  of  Arctic  sea  ice,  and  the  yellow  patches 
indicate  specially  favourable  growing-places  for 
them.  The  distribution  of  these  Arctic  diatoms 
is  somewhat  different  from  that  of  those  on  the 
Antarctic  ice.  In  the  Arctic  they  are  more 
on  the  surface,  while  in  the  Antarctic  they  are 
confined  more  or  less  to  a  thin  lamina  at  sea- 
level,  above  which  lies  the  remnant  of  the  winter 
snow.  In  fact,  the  diatoms  of  Arctic  ice  are 
altogether  different  species  from  those  of 
Antarctic  ice.  And  while  diatoms  have  nothing 
to  do  with  bears,  it  is  quaint  to  notice  that  in 
the  Arctic  Regions  the  yellow  ice  patches  hide 
the  polar  bear  from  vision  ;  in  the  Antarctic 
regions,  where  the  yellow  diatom  material  is, 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        77 

as  a  rule,  covered  with  white  snow,  there  are 
no  bears  to  benefit  by  being  lost  among 
yellowish  patches  of  their  own  colour.  Later 
on  I  will  say  more  about  bears  :  just  now  let 
us  remember  their  wonderful  resemblance  to 
the  yellow  diatom  patches  on  the  Arctic  floes. 

The  diatoms  of  the  Arctic  floes  and  pack 
ice  are  also  otherwise  interesting.  Certain 
species  and  varieties  of  diatoms  found  on  the 
Greenland  pack,  which  drives  southward  down 
the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  are  identical  to 
those  found  near  Behring  Strait,  and  this  was 
one  of  the  reasons  that  made  Nansen  confident 
that  the  Fram  would  drift  across  the  polar 
basin  from  the  Siberian  Islands  to  the  Green- 
land Sea. 

Now  all  these  diatoms  that  have  been 
referred  to  are  distinctly  associated  with 
sea-water  ice,  and  according  to  Cleve  the 
Arctic  ones  "take  their  origin  from  salt 
water,"  and  not  from  the  land.  In  Antarctic 
ice  the  diatoms  are  all  marine  forms  :  but  they 
probably  live  in  the  sea  water  permeating  the 
ice  in  the  lamina,  which  occurs  in  the  pieces 
of  pack  ice  at  sea-level,  below  the  surface 
snow,  since  those  floating  freely  in  the  Ant- 
arctic seas  appear  to  be  different  species  from 
those  found  in  this  lamina. 

On  the  surface  of  the  sea,  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  diatoms  and  other  algae  occur,  and 


78  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

sometimes  in  such  dense  masses  as  to  colour 
the  sea.  Scoresby  (Arctic  Regions,  i,  p.  176) 
noted  that  in  the  Greenland  Sea  the  colour 
of  the  water  was  in  places  nearly  grass-green. 
In  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean,  in  the  spring  of 
1893,  I  saw  bands  of  brilliant  emerald  green, 
like  green  meadows  stretching  for  miles  over 
the  otherwise  bright  blue  sea.  And  in  the 
South  Atlantic  the  Scotia  passed  through  sim- 
ilar bands  of  a  bright  orange  colour.  These 
orange  bands  were  fully  thirty  feet  wide,  and 
stretched  several  miles  in  length,  and  Dr. 
Rudmose  Brown  found  they  were  composed 
of  a  gelatinous  scum  consisting  chiefly  of 
microscopic  algae  (Trichodesmium)  closely  allied 
to  diatoms.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in 
this  scum  were  numbers  of  Portuguese  men-of- 
war,  jelly-fish,  swimming-bells,  and  crustaceans, 
and  many  other  forms  of  animal  life. 

I  make  special  mention  of  these  remarkable 
occurrences  because  it  is  quite  plain  that  all 
these  animals  were  there  dependent  directly 
or  indirectly  on  these  unicellular  algae  ;  some 
of  the  animals  were  feeding  on  the  algae 
themselves,  others  were  preying  on  those 
very  animals  which  had  become  luscious  with 
the  good  pasture  they  had  fed  upon,  and  these 
in  their  turn  were  devoured  by  their  larger 
and  more  rapacious  brethren.  Why  the  diatoms 
were  there  is  a  more  puzzling  question,  but  there 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION         79 

must  have  been  sufficient  nitrogenous  and  other 
food  material  to  make  them  thrive  so  well — pos- 
sibly the  excreta  or  rotting  carcase  of  a  whale  ! 

Now  in  the  Antarctic  seas,  especially  during 
my  cruise  in  1892  and  1893,  I  have  recorded 
in  my  diary  day  after  day  such  entries  as 
these  :  "sea  dirty  green"  ;  "sea  dirty  brown"  ; 
"sea  duly  olive-brown"  ;  "brownish  green 
sea"  ;  "olive-brown  sea"  ;  "sea green"  ;  "water 
olive-green  colour,"  and  so  on.  When  the 
silk  tow-net  was  put  over,  it  was  quickly 
filled  with  a  gelatinous  mass,  which  adhered 
persistently  to  the  silk,  and  which,  even  after 
thorough  washing,  blocked  up  the  fine  meshes, 
which  could  not  be  washed  clear  of  it.  On 
examination  I  found  this  slimy  mass  to  be 
composed  of  Corethron  cryophyUum  and  other 
diatoms. 

Like  the  yellow  bands  of  algae  in  the  South 
Atlantic  Ocean,  the  immense  quantity  of 
diatoms  and  other  algae  floating  in  the  polar 
seas  doubtlessly  forms  the  basis  of  the  enor- 
mous abundance  of  animal  life  there,  from 
the  small  copepods  and  euphausia  to  the 
innumerable  birds,  seals,  and  giant  whales. 
The  nature  of  this  discoloration  of  Arctic 
waters  was  shown  by  the  late  Dr.  Robert 
Brown  (Transactions,  Botanical  Society,  Edin- 
burgh, vol.  ix,  1867)  to  be  due  to  the  presence 
of  enormous  numbers  of  diatoms,  among 


80  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

which  lives  a  wealth  of  animal  life,  including 
medusoids,  small  crustaceans,  and  especially 
"winged"  gastropods  (Clio).  There  are  such 
quantities  of  these  diatoms  that  their  siliceous 
skeletons,  which  are  of  a  most  indestructible 
character,  form  a  great  ring  of  deposit  known 
as  diatom  ooze  at  the  bottom  of  the  deep 
southern  ocean,  all  round  the  South  Polar 
Regions.  Deep-sea  deposits  will  be  considered 
in  due  course,  but  at  present  I  wish  to  call 
attention  to  a  remarkable  fact,  namely,  that 
the  distribution  of  the  diatoms  on  the  surface 
is  different  from  their  distribution  on  the 
bottom.  The  maximum  occurrence  of  diatoms 
in  the  surface  waters  is  south  of  60°  S.,  whereas 
the  maximum  occurrence  of  diatoms  at  the 
bottom  is  in  about  51°  and  52°  S.  This  is 
doubtless  due  to  strong  undercurrents  running 
in  a  northerly  direction,  which  carry  the  del- 
icate skeletons  northwards  as  they  sink  down- 
wards towards  the  depths.  This  rain  of  diatom 
ooze  must  form  food  for  minute  forms  of  animal 
life,  which  in  their  turn  fall  a  prey  to  larger 
animals  living  in  intermediate  and  great  depths. 
The  diatoms  of  the  Polar  Regions,  however, 
are  not  all  marine  forms.  I  have  examined 
hundreds  of  land  forms  in  the  Arctic  Regions, 
especially  during  my  wintering  in  1896  and 
1897  in  Franz  Josef  Land.  Doubtless,  also, 
there  are  species  of  diatoms  that  belong  to 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        81 

Antarctic  lands.  "On  several  occasions,  nota- 
bly on  December  18th  and  20th,  1892,  I  saw 
bergs  which  were  fringed  with  pale  brown 
streaks,  like  a  vein  apparently  sandwiched  in 
their  main  mass,"  and  I  believe  that  this 
coloration  was  due  to  diatoms  or  some  other 
forms  of  algae.  This  observation  refers  to  tops 
of  bergs  that  were  possibly  150  feet  above  sea- 
level,  and  which  had  not  been  overturned. 
The  tops  being  inaccessible,  it  was  impossible 
to  get  a  specimen.  But  I  have  seen  similar 
coloration  on  land  ice  in  the  north. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of 
coloration  of  ice  and  snow  on  the  land  is  what 
is  known  as  "red  snow,"  which  is  due  to  a 
blood-red  microscopic  alga  known  as  Sphce- 
rella  nivalis.  I  have  seen  acres  of  ice  and  snow 
red  with  this  alga  in  Prince  Charles  Foreland, 
and  other  parts  of  Spitsbergen,  as  well  as  in 
Novaya  Zemlya  and  Franz  Josef  Land,  and 
on  one  occasion  we  found  small  patches  at 
Scotia  Bay  in  the  South  Orkneys.  I  have  not 
seen  it  on  other  Antarctic  lands  I  have  visited, 
and  am  not  aware  that  other  explorers,  except 
Dr.  Charcot,  who  saw  it  in  Western  Graham 
Land,  and  Mr.  Priestly,  have  recorded  its 
presence.  Mr.  James  Murray,  who  accom- 
panied Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  writes  to  me 
saying  :  "I  never  saw  red  snow,  but  our 
geologist,  Priestly,  saw  the  snow  smeared  with 


82  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

red  (some  30  or  40  miles  from  our  camp).  He 
collected  some,  but  abandoned  his  specimens 
while  saving  his  life  after  being  carried  away 
on  a  floe.  In  a  lake  close  by  was  our  now 
familiar  red  rotifer,  and  he  suspected  it  caused 
the  red  snow.  Certainly  it  could  do  so,  if  the 
water  swarming  with  rotifers  were  blown  out 
over  the  snow  during  a  gale  ;  they  would  not 
be  killed  by  the  cold.  I  find  that  Agassiz's 
red  snow  from  the  Alps  contained  red  rotifers, 
probably  the  same  kind."  Lagerheim  also 
reported  finding  rotifers  in  red  snow  in  Nica- 
ragua. It  is  quite  clear,  however,  that  it  does 
not  occur  so  frequently  in  the  south  as  it  does 
in  the  north,  probably  mainly  owing  to  the 
higher  summer  temperatures  that  occur  in  the 
north.  The  red  snow  alga  is  not  confined  to 
ice  and  snow,  and  I  do  not  consider  that  ice 
and  snow  is  its  chief  habitat.  Mr.  George 
Murray,  late  of  the  British  Museum,  told  me 
that  he  had  known  of  this  alga  in  the  cistern 
of  a  London  house.  If  one  examines  the 
dried-up  shallow  ponds  and  pools  scattered  all 
over  Arctic  lands  hi  the  late  summer,  when  their 
water  supply  fails  owing  to  lack  of  melting 
snow,  one  often  finds  the  whole  bottom  of  such 
^  ponds  covered  with  a  dark  reddish-brown  scum, 
1  which  dries  up  into  a  sort  of  skin,  covering 
all  the  ground  and  wrapping  itself  round  every 
stone.  On  examination  this  is  found  to  be 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        S3 

composed  mainly  of  Sphcsrella  nivalis.  This 
red  scum  appears  to  thrive  especially  where 
such  pools  have  been  enriched  in  nitrogenous 
matter  by  water  which  has  run  down  the  rocks 
and  taluses  where  great  numbers  of  birds  resort 
for  nesting.  It  is  often  found  that  a  glacier 
or  snow-patch  is  coloured  red  when  water  flows 
over  it  from  rocks  where  birds  are  nesting, 
and  the  well-known  Scottish  Arctic  explorer 
Lament,  who  has  so  ably  depicted  many  an 
Arctic  scene  and  incident,  has  ascribed  the 
colour  as  being  due  to  the  droppings  of  the 
rotge,  or  little  auk,  which  are,  as  he  points  out, 
of  blood-red  colour.  But  I  have  examined  such 
patches  of  red  snow  and  ice  microscopically, 
and  have  found  the  redness  due  to  the  presence 
of  the  red  snow  alga.  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  the  droppings  of  the  rotge  will  so  enrich 
the  water  with  nitrates  that  the  red  alga,  which 
is  growing  plentifully,  though  invisibly,  on 
the  black  rocks  and  ground,  thrives  exceedingly 
and  is  carried,  and  lives  and  grows  on  the  melt- 
ing surface  of  the  snow  or  glacier  ice.  I  have 
seen  glaciers  coloured  green  and  black  as  well 
as  red.  The  green  colour  is  certainly  due  to 
green  algee,  and  the  black,  in  certain  cases,  I 
have  found  to  be  due  to  fragments  of  desiccated 
lichen,  fragments  which  do  not  appear  to  be 
growing  on  the  ice  but  are  there  just  as  any 
other  dust  might  be. 


84  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  sea  ice  especially, 
and  even  the  surface  of  glacier  ice  is  swarming 
with  life,  and  is  by  no  means  so  sterile  as  it 
is  usually  thought  to  be.  Bacteriological  ex- 
amination has  demonstrated  that  the  air  of 
the  Polar  Regions  is  sterile,  but  under  natural 
conditions  in  the  Polar  Regions,  as  in  other 
regions,  we  may  lay  down  a  general  law,  and 
say — Where  there  is  water  there  is  life  1  It 
matters  not  whether  this  water  be  frozen  with 
all  the  rigour  of  a  polar  winter,  subjected  even  to 
over  one  hundred  degrees  of  frost  (F.).  Melt 
this  ice,  whether  fresh  or  salt,  and  life  will  be 
found.  In  Franz  Josef  Land  I  melted  out 
solidly-frozen  pieces  of  wet  moss  and  soil,  that 
had  been  subjected  to  a  temperature  of  —  45° 
F.  or  77  degrees  of  frost,  and  as  soon  as  they 
were  melted  myriads  of  animals  and  plants 
began  "to  live,  and  move,  and  have  their 
being,"  after  a  death-like  winter  sleep.  Many 
algae  and  even  the  mosses  themselves  continued 
life  where  they  had  suddenly  stopped  active 
living  with  the  onrush  of  the  winter  frost. 
They  had  remained  dormant  during  several 
winter  months,  and  now  active  life  suddenly 
began  again.  Innumerable  wheel  animalcules 
(Rotifera)  and  water-bears  (Tardigrada)  once 
more  began  to  move  and  live,  and  in  one  case 
a  small  nematode  worm  that  had  evidently 
been  on  the  point  of  laying  its  eggs  when  over- 


85 

taken  by  the  frost  months  previously,  began 
to  lay  them  as  soon  as  it  had  melted  out,  and 
continued  its  life  as  if  nothing  had  happened 
during  this  long  period  of  sleep.  The  researches 
of  Mr.  James  Murray  in  the  Antarctic  Regions 
have  since  demonstrated  the  same  phenomena, 
and  he  has  further  demonstrated  that  the  Ant- 
arctic rotifers,  after  being  frozen  and  melted, 
and  then  dried,  can  be  subjected  to  the  tem- 
perature of  boiling  water  for  a  short  time  and 
yet  continue  to  live. 

The  preservation  of  wooden  crosses  on  old 
graves  in  Spitsbergen  and  other  parts  of  the 
Arctic  Regions  as  well  as  the  remnants  of  wooden 
houses  three  centuries  old,  to  say  nothing  of 
much  of  the  driftwood  which  must  have  been 
left  high  and  dry  many  centuries  ago,  is  a  strik- 
ing piece  of  evidence  of  the  sterility  of  the 
Arctic  Regions  from  bacteria.  The  time  will 
certainly  come  when  a  country  like  Spitsbergen 
and  other  parts  of  Polar  Regions  will  be  utilized 
as  sanatoria,  at  least  for  the  summer  months. 
Concerning  the  bacterial  sterility  of  the  atmos- 
phere, we  have  the  striking  facts  that,  under 
ordinary  conditions,  it  is  not  possible  to  "catch 
cold"  in  Polar  Regions,  and  that  every  germ 
disease  is  checked.  A  person  who  has  a  ten- 
dency to  rheumatism  in  Britain  or  any  similar 
country  will  not  be  attacked  by  rheumatism 
(unless  possibly  he  is  a  very  chronic  rheumatic 


86  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

subject)  in  the  Polar  Regions,  though  he  may 
be  night  and  day  in  a  wet  camp,  continually 
soaked.  It  is  possible  to  take  a  pleasant  short 
sleep,  if  one  is  sufficiently  tired,  on  soft  slushy 
snow  on  a  glacier  in  an  exposed  position  and 
to  be  refreshed  and  to  suffer  no  ill  effects  what- 
ever despite  a  thorough  soaking  ;  you  may 
get  chilly,  but  you  will  not  "catch  cold,"  or 
get  pneumonia  and  the  like.  Infectious  fevers 
are  practically  unknown  well  within  the  Polar 
Regions,  unless  possibly  contracted  in  a  dirty 
shop  or  a  filthily-kept  house,  and  even  then 
it  is  more  than  likely  that  no  fever  would  be 
contracted  during  the  winter  months.  Gen- 
erally speaking  we  may  say  germ  diseases  are 
unknown  well  within  the  Polar  Regions.  People 
die  of  old  age,  organic  troubles,  such  as  various 
forms  of  heart  disease,  and  by  accident  ;  not 
from  germ  diseases.  Convalescents  from  serious 
illnesses  rapidly  recover,  and  get  renewed 
health,  such  as  they  have  never  enjoyed  before, 
and  wounds  heal  effectively  and  with  rapidity. 
Payer,  speaking  of  Dr.  Borgen's  terrible  wounds, 
says  :  "The  first  operation  was  upon  the  cabin 
table.  And  here  we  may  briefly  notice  the 
singular  fact  that,  although  he  had  been  carried 
more  than  100  paces  with  his  skull  almost  laid 
bare,  at  a  temperature  of  —  13°  F.,  his  scalp 
healed  so  perfectly  that  not  a  single  portion  was 
missing  ;"  and  Dr.  Borgen  himself  says,  "Nor 


SEA  ICE  AND  COLORATION        87 

during  the  process  of  healing,  which  progressed 
favourably,  did  I  experience  the  smallest  pain" 
(The  German  Arctic  Expedition  of  1869-70, 
by  Captain  Koldeway,  vol.  ii,  pp.  408  and  410). 
The  darkness  of  winter  is  the  chief  enemy  of 
man,  as  well  as  man  himself.  Provided  a  man 
lives  a  decently  disciplined  life  there  is  no  more 
healthy  place  in  the  world  than  the  Polar 
Regions.  It  is  the  invariable  experience  of 
every  well-organised  polar  expedition  that  the 
individuals  increase  in  bodily  health.  Outside 
accidents,  certain  forms  of  heart  disease  have 
been  about  the  only  cause  of  death,  and  in  these 
cases  the  trouble  was  probably  present  in  its 
initial  stages  before  the  person  joined  the  expe- 
dition, when  it  was  difficult  to  detect,  even  by 
highly-skilled  physicians  ;  in  such  cases  the 
patients  probably  could  not  have  been  saved 
from  death  even  though  they  had  never  gone 
to  the  Polar  Regions.  It  was  stated,  some 
years  ago,  that  the  death-rate  of  polar  expedi- 
tions was  less  than  that  of  the  healthiest  town 
in  Britain,  even  including  such  disasters  as  the 
Franklin  and  Greely  expeditions.  Now,  with 
better  scientific  organisation,  the  average  death- 
rate  has  in  all  probability  fallen  much  lower 
than  this  estimate. 


CHAPTER  V 

PLANT   LIFE 

BESIDES  bacteria  and  unicellular  algse  there 
are  other  forms  of  plant  life  in  the  Polar 
Regions.  Various  forms  of  seaweeds,  both  large 
and  small,  were  taken  by  the  Scotia  naturalists 
when  dredging  in  shallow  Antarctic  waters.  In 
Spitsbergen  waters  and  in  the  Barents  Sea,  off 
Novaya  Zemlya  and  Franz  Josef  Land,  the 
Scottish  expeditions  have  dredged  up  great 
quantities  of  different  kinds  of  seaweed,  es- 
pecially laminaria,  and  after  a  storm  on  the 
west  coast  of  Prince  Charles  Foreland  I  have 
seen  piles  of  laminaria  and  other  seaweed  fully 
5  or  6  feet  in  height,  heaped  up  above  the  ordi- 
nary high-water  level.  This  seaweed  ultimately 
rotted  on  the  shore  or  was  driven  inland  by 
the  wind.  There  is  one  remarkable  feature 
of  polar  shores  ;  and  it  is  that,  except  in  a  few 
very  secluded  nooks  and  crannies,  no  seaweed 
will  be  found  between  high-  and  low-water 
mark,  nor  in  depths  of  less  than  a  fathom  or 
two  below  low-water  mark. 

On  examining  the  rocks  on  which  one  would 
expect  this  seaweed  to  grow  one  finds  that 
88 


PLANT  LIFE  89 

they  are  very  much  smoother  and  more  rounded- 
off  than  the  rocks  on  the  shores  of  warmer  seas. 
They  are,  in  fact,  quite  polished.  The  reason 
is  not  far  to  seek,  for  to  the  depth  of  a  fathom 
or  so  the  sea  becomes  frozen  solidly  during  the 
winter,  and  when  summer  conies  and  the  pack 
breaks  up,  this  and  even  heavier  ice  is  driven 
along  the  shore  and  grinds  over  the  rocks,  rub- 
bing and  polishing  them  and  preventing  seaweed 
from  growing  there.  Naturally  also,  for  the 
same  reason,  one  need  not  expect  to  find  shore 
animals,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  shore  fauna 
is  very  scanty  in  the  Polar  Regions.  There 
may  be  a  few  limpets  in  a  relatively  deep  crack, 
or  a  few  amphipods  and  a  stray  fish,  but  there 
are  few  hiding-places  for  them  among  rocks 
so  depleted  of  weeds.  No  sessile  animal  is 
safe  from  being  crushed  and  scoured  off  the  rocks 
by  stranding  ice.  Even  on  a  sandy  shore  there 
is  little,  though  there  is  better  chance  here, 
especially  if  it  does  not  shelve  steeply.  Worms, 
copepods,  ostracods  and  the  like  may  some- 
times be  found  in  abundance  on  a  shallow  sandy 
shore,  especially  if  there  is  some  bar  or  barrier 
which  prevents  heavy  ice  being  stranded  on 
the  beach  at  high  water  during  the  short  sum- 
mer season. 

On  the  land,  plant  life  may  be  represented 
by  more  than  diatoms  and  other  algae.  But, 
be  it  noted,  land  plants  have  a  better  chance 


90  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

and  are  far  more  numerous  in  the  Arctic  than 
in  the  Antarctic  Regions.  For  whereas  there 
are  about  400  species  of  flowering  plants  in 
the  Arctic  Regions,  until  Dr.  Charcot  discovered 
two  flowering  plants  in  more  than  one  locality 
on  the  western  coast  of  Graham  Land — a  grass, 
Aira  antarctica,  and  a  small  umbelliferous  plant, 
Colobanthus  crassifolius  var.  brevifolius  —  no 
\  flowering  plant  was  known  to  exist  in  the 
Antarctic  Regions  with  the  exception  of  this 
grass,  which  was  known  to  be  a  native  of  the 
South  Shetlands.  A  considerable  number  of 
plants,  however,  occur  on  some  subantarctic 
islands,  such  as  Kerguelen,  South  Georgia,  etc. 
Except  these  two  flowering  plants  which  I  have 
mentioned  not  a  single  one  has  yet  been  found 
on  any  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Antarctica  or  the 
islands  immediately  adjacent  to  that  continent, 
not  even  in  the  South  Orkneys.  Though  grass 
had  been  reported  on  these  islands,  we  know 
now  that  it  certainly  does  not  exist. 

The  most  likely  reason  for  this  absence  of 
flowering  plants  is  the  short  Antarctic  summer 
with  temperatures  very  much  below  those  of 
the  Arctic  Regions.  In  the  South  Orkneys, 
for  instance,  in  60°  44'  S.  the  mean  summer 
temperature  of  the  three  summer  months 
(December,  January,  and  February)  is  below 
freezing-point,  viz.  31.7°  F.  ;  and  in  no  month 
does  the  mean  rise  to  33°  F.  ;  at  Snow  Hill, 


PLANT  LIFE  91 

Graham  Land  (64°  24'  S.)  the  mean  of  January, 
the  warmest  month,  is  30.38°  F.,  while  at  Cape 
Adare,  Victoria  Land  (71°  18'  S.),  the  summer 
mean  is  30.4°  F. 

Comparing  these  summer  temperatures  with 
those  of  the  Arctic  Regions,  it  is  found  that  in 
Spitsbergen  (79°  53'  N.)  the  mean  temperature 
of  July  (corresponding  to  January  in  the  south) 
is  as  high  as  41.50°  F.,  and  that  in  Franz 
Josef  Land  (80°  N.)  it  is  35.6°  F.  in  the  same 
month.  The  mean  temperature  in  Spitsbergen 
for  June,  July,  and  August  is  37.1°  F.,  and 
even  that  of  the  ice-bound  King  Oscar  Land 
in  76°  40'  N.,  88°  40'  W.,  is  33.35°  F.  The 
point  is,  that  while  the  mean  temperature  of 
the  summer  months  in  the  Arctic  Regions  is 
well  above  freezing-point,  viz.  32°  F.,  that  of 
the  Antarctic  Regions  is  practically  always 
below  the  freezing-point.  "This  remarkably 
cold  Antarctic  summer,"  says  Dr.  Rudmose 
Brown,  "acts  in  two  ways  upon  plant  life  : 
firstly,  the  winter  snow  lies  late  on  the  ground 
— all  the  later  as  the  summer  is  a  cloudy  and 
somewhat  sunless  period,  and  December  is 
well  advanced  before  the  majority  of  available 
sites  are  laid  bare,  while  in  February  the  winter 
again  begins  ;  secondly,  and  this  is  the  chief 
reason,  it  is  doubtful  if  a  flowering  plant  could 
obtain  the  requisite  amount  of  heat  needed 
for  its  various  life  functions  even  to  reach  the 


92  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

flowering  stage,  while  the  maturation  of  its 
fruit  would  be  next  to  impossible"  ("Antarctic 
Botany,"  by  R.  N.  Rudmose  Brown,  Scottish 
National  Antarctic  Expedition  :  Scottish  Geo- 
graphical Magazine,  1906,  vol.  xxii,  No.  9). 
Another  very  serious  factor  against  plant  life 
in  the  Antarctic  Regions  is  the  presence  of 
enormous  numbers  of  penguins  on  almost  every 
available  piece  of  ground  on  which  plants 
could  grow.  It  is  only  occasional  out-of-the-way 
spots,  not  readily  accessible  to  the  sea,  and  so 
free  from  penguins,  that  are  available  for  plant 
growth.  On  Mossman  Peninsula,  in  Scotia 
Bay,  there  was  one  very  favourable  place,  where 
about  an  acre  of  rocky  ground  was  covered  with 
6  or  8  inches  of  moss  and  vegetable  soil  derived 
from  the  moss  that  had  grown  there  for  many 
a  year.  Such  mossy  grounds,  however,  are 
very  late  in  losing  their  winter  snow,  so  that 
if  the  seeds  of  flowering  plants  reached  such 
a  nidus  they  would  have  very  little  chance, 
even  if  they  germinated,  of  securing  a  suffi- 
ciently firm  foothold  before  the  summer  was 
gone.  Owing  to  a  prevalence  of  north-west 
winds,  Dr.  Rudmose  Brown  is  of  opinion  that 
some  wind-blown  seeds  of  Fuegian  plants  may 
reach  Graham  Land,  the  South  Shetlands, 
and  the  South  Orkneys  ;  but  the  absence  of 
driftwood  on  these  lands  shows  that  there  is 
much  less  chance  of  their  reaching  these  lands, 


PLANT  LIFE  93 

either  by  sea  or  ice,  than  there  is  in  Arctic 
Regions,  where  on  most  shores  enormous  quan- 
tities of  driftwood  are  stranded  year  after  year, 
so  much  so  that  some  places  have  the  appear- 
ance of  timber  yards. 

The  absence  of  land  birds,  with  the  solitary 
exception  of  the  Sheath-bill  (Chionis),  is  against 
the  transit  of  seeds,  though  some  petrels,  the 
Dominican  Black  Back  Gull,  the  skuas,  and 
the  shags  may  occasionally  carry  seeds  to  these 
lands. 

As  far  as  the  geographical  distribution  of 
plants  is  concerned,  Skottsberg  and  Rudmose 
Brown  consider  the  parallel  of  60°  S.  forms 
a  more  or  less  natural  limit.  (Note  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  give  a  hard  and  fast  limit  for  the 
boundary  of  the  Antarctic  Regions  :  the  astron- 
omer takes  the  Antarctic  Circle,  the  botanist 
the  60th  parallel  of  south  latitude,  and  the 
oceanographer  the  limits  of  floating  ice.)  "The 
flora  of  the  Antarctic  regions,"  says  Dr.  Rud- 
mose Brown,  "as  thus  defined,  contains  only 
two  phanerogams,  namely,  Aira  antarctica 
(Hook.  Des.)  and  Colobanthus  crassifolius  (Hook, 
f.  var.  brevifolius,  Eng.).  The  former  of  these 
has  long  been  known  from  Antarctic  Regions, 
having  been  collected  by  Eights  about  1820 
at  the  South  Shetlands,  and  it  also  occurs  on 
Danco  Land,  but  its  discovery  along  with 
Colobanthus  crassifolius,  by  Dr.  Turquet,  of 


94  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  French  Antarctic  Expedition  at  Biscoe 
Bay,  Anvers  Island,  in  64°  50'  S.,  68°  40'  W., 
is  very  interesting,  for  this  is  the  most  southerly 
record  for  flowering  plants  known.  Descampsia 
antarctica  was  also  found  by  Dr.  Turquet  at 
Booth-Wandel  Island,  65°  5'  S.  It  is  extremely 
probable  that  further  exploration  will  somewhat 
extend  the  range  of  these  species."  In  1910 
Dr.  Charcot's  expedition  in  the  Pourquoi  Pas? 
found  these  two  flowering  plants  as  far  south 
as  68°  S.  "Ferns  are  entirely  wanting  in  the 
Antarctic,  as  was  only  to  be  supposed,  but 
mosses  are  relatively  abundant,  and  form  almost 
the  chief  constituent  of  the  flora.  Collections 
of  these  are  known  from  various  points  around 
the  pole,  including  Graham  Land,  South  Shet- 
lands,  South  Orkneys,  Wilhelm  Land  and 
Victoria  Land,  but  those  from  the  Atlantic 
and  American  sides  are  incontestably  the  richer, 
no  doubt  largely  because  of  the  nearer  prox- 
imity of  extra-polar  land  and  consequent 
possibility  of  migration,  but  also  to  some 
extent  because  that  side  of  the  Antarctic 
regions  has  received  more  careful  and  serious 
exploration  than  any  other."  Dr.  Jules  Cardot, 
who  has  examined  the  mosses  brought  back 
by  all  the  recent  expeditions,  places  the  total 
number  of  species  at  present  known  at  about 
51.  Nearly  50  per  cent,  are  endemic,  while 
about  23  per  cent,  are  found  in  Arctic  Regions 


PLANT  LIFE  95 

as  well,  but  the  majority  of  these  are  of  more 
or  less  cosmopolitan  distribution.  Only  six 
Antarctic  hepatics  are  known,  and  only  one 
fungus  discovered  by  M.  Racovitza  of  the 
Belgica. 

Lichens  predominate  though  more  numerous 
as  individuals  than  species.  Various  orange- 
coloured  species  of  Placodium  even  show  well- 
marked  coloration  on  precipitous  rocks  in 
winter.  The  grey  and  shaggy  Usnea  mela- 
xantha,  Ach.,  is  more  luxuriant  than  any 
other  and  produces  good  "fruits."  All  but 
one  of  the  South  Orkney  lichens  collected  by 
Dr.  Rudmose  Brown  of  the  Scotia  have  been 
previously  recorded  from  the  Arctic  Regions. 
Altogether  about  75  per  cent,  of  the  Antarctic 
species  are  also  Arctic  forms.  Twenty-five 
species  of  marine  algae,  including  five  new 
species,  were  taken  by  the  Scottish  Expedition 
in  South  Orkney  waters.  Of  diatoms  I  have 
already  spoken.  Fresh-water  algae  are  almost 
confined  to  unicellular  kinds,  but  had  been 
little  studied  until  Mr.  James  Murray  found 
"abundance  of  fresh-water  algae,  including  some 
very  small  diatoms,  in  ponds,  and  also  in  earthy 
deposits,  which  may  have  originated  in  ponds." 

This  is  a  brief  summary  of  all  that  is  known 
regarding  the  Antarctic  flora.  It  is  quite  im- 
possible to  enter  into  similar  detail  regarding 
the  Arctic  flora  on  account  not  only  of  its  pro- 
fusion, as  already  indicated  by  the  number  of 


96  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

flowering  plants,  but  also  because  of  the 
enormous  amount  of  investigation  that  has 
been  carried  out  by  very  many  eminent  botanists 
from  every  civilised  nation.  The  literature  of 
Arctic  botany  fills  many  shelves.  In  so  much 
detail  has  Arctic  flora  been  investigated,  that 
it  is  quite  a  rare  thing  to  record  a  new  species, 
and  even  regarding  distribution  there  is  little 
more  to  be  learnt.  The  present  interest  is 
the  study  of  the  physiology  of  Arctic  plants, 
and  here  a  beginning  has  already  been  made. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  is  neither  neces- 
sary nor  desirable  to  enumerate  even  in  the 
most  general  way  species  of  Arctic  plants  nor 
to  discuss  their  distribution  more  than  I  have 
done  already  in  the  case  of  the  diatoms  of  the 
Arctic  seas  and  floes. 

But  plant  life  in  Arctic  lands  is  a  feature  of 
such  importance  that  it  must  not  be  passed 
by  without  giving  some  consideration  to  it  in 
a  general  way.  One  striking  feature  is,  that 
no  matter  how  far  north  the  explorer  goes,  no 
matter  how  desolate  a  region  he  visits,  he  is 
sure  to  come  across  one  or  more  species  of 
flowering  plants.  A  poppy,  buttercup,  or 
saxifrage  is  almost  certain  to  be  met  with,  and 
of  all  these  the  Arctic  poppy  (Papaver  radi- 
catum)  is  perhaps  the  most  persistent.  There 
is  no  place  that  I  have  visited  in  Spitsbergen, 
Franz  Josef  Land,  Novaya  Zemlya,  or  else- 


PLANT  LIFE  97 

where,  however  barren,  desolate,  and  wind- 
swept, where  I  have  not  found  the  Arctic  poppy 
growing,  stunted  it  may  be,  yet  growing  and 
even  flowering  ;  and,  if  there  exist  in  the  least 
degree  slightly  more  favourable  conditions,  it 
will  grow  with  great  luxuriance  and  in  great 
profusion.  Similarly,  on  the  coasts  of  Green- 
land and  on  the  Arctic  islands  north  of  America 
wherever  plant  life  can  succeed  the  poppy  is 
to  be  found.  Next  to  the  poppy,  the  purple 
saxifrage  (Saxifraga  oppositifolid)  is  probably 
the  most  hardy  Arctic  flowering  plant,  and  in 
suitable  places  may  grow  in  even  greater  pro- 
fusion than  the  poppy.  I  have  seen  the  Fore- 
land Laichs  of  Prince  Charles  Foreland  in  July 
resembling  an  extensive  Scottish  moor  in  Septem- 
ber, one  blaze  of  purple  for  miles,  but  purple 
with  this  saxifrage  instead  of  with  heather. 
A  yellow  buttercup  (Ranunculus  nivalis)  is 
another  very  common  Arctic  species  growing 
almost  anywhere,  and  very  different  in  ap- 
pearance according  to  what  ground  it  is  growing 
on,  and  to  what  extent  it  is  protected  from 
wind.  Cerastium  alpinum  is  also  met  with 
everywhere,  great  masses  of  white  brightening 
the  landscapes.  Other  flowering  plants  that 
every  Arctic  traveller  is  thoroughly  familiar 
with  are  :  scurvy-grass  (Cochlearia  qfficinalis), 
the  sulphur-flowered  buttercup  (Ranunculus  sul- 
phureus),  the  little  bladder  campion  (Silene 


98  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

acaidis),  several  potentillas  (P.  nivea,  P.  pid- 
chella,  and  others),  the  blaeberry  (Empetrum 
nigrwri),  many  saxifrages,  notably  Saxifraga 
cernua,  S.  ccespitosa,  S.  Hirculus,  the  rock  rose 
(Dry as  octopetala),  the  cotton  grass  (Eriophorwri), 
and  last,  but  not  of  least  importance,  the  Arctic 
willow  (Salix  polaris  and  S.  herbacea),  which 
often  covers  acres  of  ground.  Neither  must 
we  forget  the  great  host  of  grasses  and  sedges. 
Few  of  these  plants  are  endemic  to  Arctic 
Regions  ;  they  often  develop  characteristic 
forms  or  varieties,  but  most  of  the  species  are 
found  also  in  northern  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America.  Further  south  they  appear  at 
higher  altitudes.  A  few  we  find  on  the  hill- 
tops of  Scotland.  There  are  two  ferns  in 
Spitsbergen  and  a  few  more  in  other  Arctic 
lands,  but  the  Arctic  Regions  are  not  favourable 
to  fern  growth.  Of  mosses  and  hepatics  there 
are  many  different  species,  most  of  which 
thrive  exceedingly  well,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  lichens.  Fungi  are  also  quite 
common,  especially  puff-balls,  with  their 
"Deadman's  snuff."  One  common  feature 
that  Arctic  and  Antarctic  mosses  and  lichens 
exhibit  is  the  infrejquency  of  any  reproduction 
except  by  purely  vegetative  means  ;  by  growth, 
in  fact,  continuous  or  discontinuous,  for  as  a 
rule  they  are  barren  :  "fruits"  in  a  state  of 
maturity  are  comparatively  rare. 


PLANT  LIFE  99 

Although  there  are  many  barren  stretches 
in  Arctic  lands,  especially  those  regions  that 
are  open,  exposed,  and  wind-blown,  yet  even 
on  such  places  stunted  desert-like  tufts  of 
some  of  the  commoner  species  will  be  found, 
especially  the  Arctic  poppy  and  purple  saxi- 
frage. These  were  growing  on  a  narrow  strip 
of  ground  only  a  few  yards  long,  and  at  the 
most  four  or  five  yards  in  breadth,  on  an  island 
in  Franz  Josef  Land,  north  of  the  80th  degree 
of  latitude,  that  was  otherwise  completely 
covered  with  permanent  ice  and  snow.  I  have 
also  found  these  plants  growing  on  the  tops 
of  the  mountains  of  Spitsbergen  north  of  the 
79th  degree  of  latitude,  at  an  altitude  of  more 
than  3,000  feet — as  bleak  exposed  places  as 
any  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Give  these 
plants  the  least  bit  of  fair  play  as  regards 
environment — a  sheltered  glen,  or  the  shores 
of  a  loch  or  firth,  where  there  is  sufficient 
moisture,  plenty  of  sun,  and  good  soil  enriched 
by  the  water  running  down  from  the  wonderful 
bird  cliffs  inhabited  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
if  not  millions  of  birds,  or  by  the  droppings  of 
reindeer,  musk-oxen,  and  other  animals,  and 
a  veritable  paradise  of  verdure  is  produced. 
I  have  basked  in  the  sun  on  wide  stretches 
of  the  purple  saxifrage,  and  have  wandered 
over  meadows  green  with  the  Arctic  willow, 
and  many  different  species  of  saxifrage  and 


100  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

mosses  ;  I  have  waded  through  grass  and  sul- 
phur-flowered buttercups  up  to  the  knee  and 
plunged  my  hands  deep  into  velvet  banks  of 
rich  green  and  red  mosses,  while  my  eyes  have 
feasted  on  a  brilliant  display  of  green,  white, 
gold,  and  purple.  Other  Arctic  explorers  have 
had  the  same  experiences — Scoresby,  in  Jame- 
son's Land  (71°  N.)  on  the  east  coast  of  Green- 
land, says,  "the  ground  was  richly  dotted 
with  grass,  a  foot  in  height,"  and,  he  continues, 
"more  inland,  my  father,  who  explored  this 
country  to  a  great  extent,  discovered  consider- 
able tracts  that  might  justly  be  denominated 
greenland,  patches  of  several  acres,  occurring 
here  and  there  of  as  fine  meadow-land  as  could 
be  seen  in  England.  There  was  a  considerable 
variety  of  grasses  and  many  other  plants  in 
a  beautiful  state"  (Journal  of  a  Greenland 
Voyage,  by  Wm.  Scoresby,  junior,  F.R.S.E., 
1823,  p.  214).  In  Grinnell  Land  (79°  N.)  in 
1875  the  British  Arctic  expedition  met  with 
"luxuriant  vegetation,"  and  in  82°  30'  N.  Cap- 
tain Markham  (The  Great  Frozen  Sea)  says, 
"Some  of  the  hills  surrounding  these  lakes 
were  beautifully  carpeted  with  the  pretty  little 
purple  saxifrage,  a  Drdba,  a  Potentilla  and  other 
wild  flowers,  while  the  valleys  were  covered 
with  patches  of  luxuriant  vegetation,  consisting 
of  grasses  and  delightfully  soft  moss."  Speak- 
ing of  the  island  of  Waigatz,  Colonel  Feilden 


PLANT  LIFE  101 

says,  "Nowhere  in  the  Arctic  Regions  have  I 
seen  such  wonderful  masses  of  colour  ;  one 
may  wade  through  acres  of  blossoming  plants 
a  foot  high,  veritable  Arctic  flower-gardens.  .  .  . 
My  words  fail,  I  know,  to  give  any  adequate 
description  of  the  immense  charm  attaching 
to  this  Arctic  flora"  ("Visits  to  Barents  and 
Kara  Seas,  with  Rambles  in  Novaya  Zemlya, 
1895  and  1897,"  by  Colonel  H.  W.  Feilden, 
Geog.  Journal,  April  1898).  Again,  Conway 
says,  "A  veritable  Arctic  garden  surrounded 
the  tents,  for  the  ground  was  gay  with  blos- 
som. There  were  large  patches  of  Saxifraga 
oppositifolia  scattered  about  like  crimson 
rugs.  Dryas  octopetala  and  the  Arctic  poppy 
were  as  common  as  buttercups  and  daisies  in 
a  meadow.  Yellow  potentillas  (P.  verna  and 
multifida)  added  their  welcome  note  of  bright 
colour.  The  Alpine  Cerastium  was  the  grace- 
fullest  blossom  of  the  company.  Then  there 
were  two  Drabas,  a  Silene,  Melandryum 
apetalum,  Oxyria  reniformis,  and  a  number  of 
other  plants  not  yet  in  flower,  besides  the 
mosses.  It  was  strange  to  meet  again  in  this 
remote  region  so  many  plants  that  I  had 
found  by  the  glaciers  and  amongst  the  crags 
of  the  Karakoram-Himalaya.  Papaver  nudi- 
caule,  Saxifraga  oppositifolia  and  Saxifraga 
Hirculus  climb  to  a  height  of  17,000  feet  and 
more  on  the  sides  of  the  greatest  giants  of  that 


102  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

most  wonderful  range.  Here  they  all  were 
again,  as  bright,  and  maintaining  themselves 
as  happily  in  the  heart  of  the  Arctic  Regions 
as  on  the  backbone  of  Asia"  (The  First 
Crossing  of  Spitsbergen,  by  Sir  W.  Martin 
Conway,  1897,  p.  125).  Such  quotations  could 
be  almost  infinitely  multiplied,  for  every  Arctic 
voyager  has  been  similarly  fascinated  with 
the  wonderful  luxuriance  and  beauty  of  the 
Arctic  flora. 

But  besides  being  a  fascinating  feature  of 
Arctic  scenery,  vegetation  on  Arctic  lands  has 
played  and  will  continue  to  play  a  most  impor- 
tant role  in  Arctic  exploration.  Without  it 
the  North  Polar  Regions  could  not  have  been 
penetrated  so  extensively  as  they  have  been 
by  man,  and  if  greater  advantage  had  been 
taken  of  it  directly  or  indirectly  there  would 
not  have  occurred  some  of  the  disasters  that 
have  marred  Polar  exploration.  As  long  ago 
as  1671  Martens  knew  the  value  of  sorrel  and 
scurvy-grass  in  Spitsbergen  for  human  food. 
"I  desire,"  says  Martens,  "the  courteous  Reader 
to  accept  at  present  of  these  for  Sample  to 
shew  him  that  on  these  rough,  barren,  and 
cold  Mountains,  there  yet  grow  some  Plants, 
for  the  Nourishment  both  of  Man  and  Beast. 
The  Herbs  grow  to  their  perfection  in  a  short 
time,  for  in  June,  when  we  first  arrived  in 
Spitsbergen,  we  saw  but  very  little  Green,  and 


PLANT  LIFE  103 

yet  in  July  most  of  them  were  in  flower, 
and  some  of  them  had  their  Seeds  already 
ripe,  whence  we  observe  the  length  of  their 
summer."  It  is  a  striking  fact,  although  it 
was  recognised  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago 
that  Arctic  plants  afforded  "Nourishment 
both  for  Man  and  Beast,"  that  more  advantage 
was  not  taken  of  them  and  of  the  "Beasts" 
this  rich  vegetation  also  sustained.  Without 
this  rich  Arctic  vegetation  from  lichens  onwards 
there  could  be  no  musk-oxen,  no  reindeer,  no 
Arctic  hares,  no  lemmings,  no  owls,  no  ptar- 
migan, no  geese,  fewer  ducks,  no  purple 
sandpipers,  stints,  sanderlings,  buntings  or  any 
other  land  birds,  few  insects,  and  a  scarcity  of 
other  invertebrates. 

With  all  these  animals,  which  will  be  con- 
sidered in  more  detail  later  on,  Arctic  lands 
become  habitable  for  the  various  tribes  of 
Eskimos  that  live  and  thrive  there,  and  Euro- 
pean races  have  been  able  to  penetrate  parts 
that  could  not  otherwise  have  been  reached 
with  means  that  have  been  at  our  disposal  up 
to  the  present  time.  Without  these  animals 
the  Arctic  tundra  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  America 
could  not  have  been  crossed  and  opened  up 
so  thoroughly,  the  coast  of  Greenland  could 
not  have  been  explored  except  in  the  most 
meagre  way,  and  the  great  Archipelago  of 
islands — great  and  small,  that  stretches  towards 


104  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  Pole  to  the  north  of  our  Canadian  Do- 
minion— could  not  have  been  investigated 
as  it  has  been. 

But  not  only  does  all  this  magnificent  supply 
of  fresh  food  from  Arctic  land  animals  depend 
on  the  luxuriant  vegetation  there,  but  some 
of  the  plants  are  actually  adjuncts  to  the  food 
supply,  notably  scurvy-grass  and  sorrel,  both 
of  which  are  pleasant  and  healthy  vegetables, 
and  both  of  which  help  to  ward  off  scurvy. 
Lichens  have  even  been  used  as  food  for  men 
crossing  barren  wastes  where  hardly  any  other 
plant  existed,  and  when  animals  were  not  there  to 
be  hunted  or  difficult  to  secure.  Franklin,  Rich- 
ardson, and  Back  maintained  life  by  eating 
"an  old  pair  of  leather  trousers,  a  gun  cover,  a 
pair  of  old  shoes  with  a  little  'tripe  de  roche' 
that  they  succeeded  in  scraping  off  the  rocks." 

The  success  of  Polar  expeditions  depends 
not  only  on  selecting  a  good  set  of  healthy 
men,  but  also,  once  the  expedition  is  in  the 
field,  on  maintaining  that  good  health  and 
even  on  improving  it.  Scurvy  has  been  the 
deadliest  enemy  of  Polar  expeditions,  whether 
they  have  been  for  hunting  or  for  exploration. 
Spitsbergen  and  other  Arctic  lands  are  one 
huge  cemetery  containing  the  remains  of 
scurvy-stricken  men  and  women  who  have 
died  through  ignorance  and  obstinacy,  and  even 
within  the  last  few  years  many  hunters  have 


PLANT  LIFE  105 

died  because  they  have  preferred  to  eat  badly- 
cured  fish  and  badly-prepared  animal  foods, 
instead  of  feeding  on  the  food  that  the  Almighty 
had  placed  at  the  very  doors  of  their  miserable 
and  filthy  huts. 

Half  the  members  of  the  British  Polar  Ex- 
pedition of  1875-76  were  saturated  with  scurvy, 
and  expeditions  as  late  as  those  of  the  Balasna 
(Weddell  Sea,  Antarctic),  1892-93,  Windward 
(Franz  Josef  Land,  Arctic),  1894-97,  and  the 
Discovery  (Ross  Sea,  Antarctic),  1901-04,  were 
all  seriously  crippled  with  the  appearance  of 
that  terrible  scourge.  On  shore  at  Cape  Flora 
Dr.  Reginald  Krettlitz  was  able  to  prevent 
scurvy  because  the  leader  and  staff  followed 
his  advice  and  lived  chiefly  on  bear  meat  and 
guillemots,  but,  as  Dr.  Neal  has  pointed  out, 
nearly  all  the  men  on  board  the  Windward 
"refused  to  eat  bear  meat,  but  lived  on  tinned 
provisions,  with  plenty  of  tinned  vegetables 
and  any  amount  of  lime-juice.  The  whole 
ship's  company,  except  three  or  four  men,  had 
scurvy,  and  those  who  did  not  have  scurvy 
were  the  very  ones  who  took  bear's  meat  when- 
ever they  could  get  it.  The  ship  arrived  in 
Norway  in  September  1895,  having  lost  three 
men  from  scurvy,  and  with  fourteen  others 
who  would  have  been  dead  in  a  few  days  if 
they  had  not  reached  land." 

For  many  a  year  lime-juice  has  been  used 


106  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

as  a  preventive  and  cure,  but  doubtlessly  the 
best  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  that  it  will  do  no 
harm  using  it  in  cases  of  scurvy,  and  it  may 
or  may  not  be  useful  in  other  directions.  On 
board  the  Baloena  one  ounce  of  lime-juice  was 
regularly  served,  "according  to  the  act,"  every 
day  to  every  man  on  board,  and  yet,  on  the 
return  voyage  to  Britain,  one  and  all  were  more 
or  less  tainted  with  scurvy,  including  one  sea- 
man who  was  very  seriously  ill,  and  who  was 
receiving  fully  two  ounces  of  lime-juice  a  day. 
The  Balcena,  flying  the  yellow  flag,  put  in  at 
Portland  for  coal  and  potatoes,  and  apparently 
the  potatoes,  which  were  ravenously  devoured 
by  the  crew  in  the  raw  state  when  they  came  on 
board,  and  which  were  afterwards  copiously 
served  out  boiled,  had  the  wonderful  effect  of 
largely  obliterating  the  scurvy  before  the  vessel 
reached  Dundee  four  days  later.  While  as  to 
the  seaman  who  was  utterly  prostrated,  and 
who  was  so  ill  that  he  was  expected  to  die  any 
day,  he  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able  to  walk 
ashore  in  Dundee.  At  the  same  time  the 
Norwegian  ship  Jason,  that  did  exactly  the  same 
voyage  as  the  Balcena,  had  no  lime-juice  on 
board,  and  had  not  the  least  trace  of  any  scor- 
butic symptoms. 

Dr.  William  H.  Neale,  who  spent  the  winter 
of  1881-82  with  Mr.  Leigh  Smith  in  Franz 
Josef  Land,  in  The  Practitioner  for  June  1896, 


PLANT  LIFE  107 

describes  how,  though  the  wrecked  party  "had 
practically  nothing  to  live  upon  but  bear  and 
walrus  meat  for  twelve  months,  there  was  not 
a  drop  of  lime-juice  saved  from  the  ship  ;  and 
the  vegetables  were  so  few  that  they  could  not 
be  taken  into  account."  Dr.  Neale  continues, 
"My  belief  is  that  our  complete  freedom  from 
scurvy  was  due  to  our  living  in  a  pure  atmosphere 
night  and  day,  and  our  diet  being  mainly  fresh 
meat  with  plenty  of  blood  in  it.  ...  Give  me  a 
hut  on  shore  and  a  rifle  with  easy  access  of 
game,  and  I  would  defy  scurvy  in  the  Arctic 
Regions  ;  but  to  live  on  board  a  ship,  to  live 
in  a  hot  forecastle  or  cabin,  and  to  live  on  tinned 
provisions,  is  the  best  means  of  courting  the 
disease." 

We  know  now,  by  careful  physiological  re- 
search and  by  further  experience  of  well-equipped 
expeditions  basing  their  food  equipment  on 
the  results  of  our  knowledge  obtained  by  these 
investigations,  that  scurvy  is  largely,  if  not 
entirely,  due  to  the  presence  of  injurious  pto- 
maines associated  with  animal  food-stuffs,  and 
it  has  been  said  by  an  eminent  physiologist 
that  it  is  simply  a  form  of  chronic  ptomaine 
poisoning.  A  well-equipped  Polar  expedition, 
where  the  greatest  possible  care  has  been  exer- 
cised by  the  leader,  and  honestly  carried  out 
by  the  contractors,  should  not,  therefore,  have 
scurvy  on  board  or  on  shore  at  its  encamp- 


108  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

ments.  It  must  be  acknowledged,  however, 
that  it  is  very  difficult  to  make  absolutely  sure 
that  all  the  preserved  meat-stuffs  on  board  are 
reliable,  expecially  as  there  are  scandalous 
contractors,  who  care  nothing  for  sacrificing 
the  health,  and  even  the  lives,  not  only  of  those 
who  penetrate  the  Polar  Regions,  but  of  those 
who  journey  to  other  parts  of  the  world,  both 
in  times  of  peace  and  war. 

The  great  maxim  to  follow  in  Polar  ex- 
ploration as  regard  food  supplies  is  to  live 
as  far  as  possible  on  the  products  of  the  sea 
or  land  where  the  work  of  the  expedition  lies. 
If  the  expedition  is  exploring  in  the  Antarctic 
Regions,  let  it  feed  on  the  excellent  flesh  of 
the  seals  and  fish  which  can  be  got  plentifully 
there,  and  on  the  eggs  and  flesh  of  the  innu- 
merable penguins  and  other  birds.  If  the 
expedition  is  in  the  Arctic  Regions,  let  it 
luxuriate  in  the  flesh  of  the  musk-ox,  reindeer, 
hare,  and  ptarmigan  ;  and  let  the  meat .  of 
bear,  walrus,  seal,  and  guillemot,  as  well  as 
other  birds,  be  utilised,  remembering  that  all 
this  "flesh  is  grass,"  and  let  scurvy-grass  and 
sorrel  be  eaten  as  the  natural  vegetables  of 
the  Polar  Regions.  Tinned  foods,  if  risked  at 
all,  should  be  used  merely  as  a  variety  apart 
from  the  staple  fresh  foods  above  mentioned. 
Then  there  will  be  no  sign  of  scurvy. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ANIMAL   LIFE 

BRIEF  reference  has  already  been  made  to 
some  of  the  polar  animals  and  their  habits, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  more  detailed 
account  of  this  aspect  of  Polar  Regions.  The 
striking  feature  of  the  Antarctic  Regions,  with 
one  partial  exception,  is  the  entire  absence 
of  land  vertebrates.  There  are  no  land  mam- 
mals— no  bears,  wolves,  foxes,  or  lemmings  ; 
no  musk-oxen,  reindeer,  or  hares,  neither  are 
there  any  land  birds  with  the  exception  of 
the  sheath-bill  (Chionis),  which  is  only  a 
summer  visitor  to  the  shores  of  most  Antarctic 
lands.  Sone  white-legged  sheath-bills,  how- 
ever, remained  at  Scotia  Bay  all  the  winter  of 
1903,  and  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  tells  me  that  the 
black-legged  sheath-bill  remains  in  Kerguelen 
all  the  winter.  Neither  are  there  any  fresh- 
water fishes,  as  there  are  practically  no  rivers 
and  only  a  few  pools  which  are  scarcely  ever 
free  of  ice.  This  striking  fact  makes  inland 
journeys  in  the  Antarctic  Regions  very  much 
more  serious  business  than  the  inland  journeys 
in  the  Arctic  Regions,  since  every  pound  of 

109 


110  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

food  required  for  a  journey  has  to  be  carried 
by  the  explorers.  There  is  no  food  in  the 
interior  of  Antarctica.  There  is  not  a  single 
living  thing,  except  possibly  a  stray  lichen 
or  moss,  which  may  harbour  an  insect  or  two, 
or  some  microscopical  invertebrates  and  uni- 
cellular algse. 

In  the  Arctic  Regions,  on  the  other  hand, 
with  the  perfect  and  light  equipment  that  is 
carried  nowadays  and  with  the  modern  and 
accurate  long-range  firearms,  so  different  from 
those  used  by  Franklin,  Rae,  Richardson,  Back, 
and  others,  who  actually  starved  with  reindeer 
in  sight,  there  is  little  chance  of  explorers 
not  being  able  to  obtain  food  supplies.  It 
is  true  there  may  be  difficulty  on  occasions 
in  obtaining  food  by  one's  own  gun,  in  certain 
districts,  for  several  days,  but  it  is  scarcely 
possible  now  to  be  reduced  to  such  extremities 
as  Arctic  explorers  were  in  the  days  of  Franklin 
and  Rae,  with  their  heavy  equipment  and 
primitive  firearms.  Even  as  late  as  the  Nares 
expedition  of  1875,  extraordinary  "regulation" 
equipment  was  carried — great  solid  sledges, 
massive  canteens,  heavy  ships'  boats,  etc., 
instead  of  light  sledges,  thin  aluminium '  can- 
teens, canvas  kayaks,  and  the  like,  which  are 
the  Polar  equipment  of  the  present  day.  A 
modern  Polar  explorer  marvels  at  the  wonder- 
ful achievements  of  his  predecessors,  which 


ANIMAL  LIFE  111 

are  all  the  more  remarkable  when  he  knows 
that,  added  to  this  cumbersome  equipment, 
their  preserved  provisions  were  such  as  almost 
certainly  to  cripple  their  strength,  if  not  utterly 
to  prostrate  them  with  that  deadliest  of  Polar 
enemies — scurvy. 

The  most  striking  of  all  Polar  animals  is 
undoubtedly  the  Polar  Bear  (Ursus  maritimus). 
The  resemblance  of  this  remarkable  animal 
to  its  surroundings  has  already  been  dealt  with  ; 
let  us  now  consider  other  characteristics.  The 
habitat  of  the  bear  is  the  sea  ice  and  the  sea, 
and  not  the  land.  The  polar  bear  is  constantly 
wandering  about  the  floes  and  pack.  It  is 
a  solitary  animal  usually.  If  there  are  two  or 
three  together,  they  will  be  a  mother  with  one 
or  two  cubs.  The  bear  does  not  hibernate, 
as  is  commonly  supposed,  but  walks  around 
in  a  desultory  manner,  examining  and  sniffing 
at  everything.  Dr.  Krettlitz  has  pointed  out 
that  what  have  been  called  hibernating  holes 
or  caves  are  only  ice  and  snow  houses  con- 
structed occasionally  by  the  male  and  female 
for  shelter  in  very  bad  weather,  but  usually 
by  the  female  for  shelter  during  her  final  stages 
of  pregnancy  and  for  a  little  time  after  the 
birth  of  her  young.  The  mother  and  young 
do  not  appear  to  stay  long  in  these  caves,  but 
soon  begin  again  their  wandering  life.  Their 
wanderings  seem  objectless  except  for  the  sake 


112  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

of  obtaining  food.  The  chief  food  of  the  polar 
bear  is  seals,  preferably  the  floe-rat  (Phoca 
foetida).  A  bear  has  been  seen  lying  stretched 
on  its  belly  at  the  edge  of  a  floe,  watching 
intently  the  water  till  a  floe-rat  coming  to  the 
surface  has  put  his  head  out  for  a  breath  and 
look  out  :  no  sooner  had  the  seal's  head  ap- 
peared than  one  fell  stroke  with  the  heavy  paw  of 
the  bear  landed  its  prey,  stunned,  on  to  the  floe. 
During  the  winter-time,  when  the  sea  gets 
more  or  less  frozen  up  into  one  continuous 
field  of  ice,  bears  are  constantly  wandering 
about  in  the  vicinity  of  cracks  in  the  ice,  or 
near  the  breathing-holes  which  the  seals  keep 
open  all  the  winter  by  constantly  coming  in 
and  out  of  them.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  a  bear 
ever  catches  a  seal  sleeping  ;  it  is  by  long  and 
patient  waiting  at  a  seal's  hole,  and  by  strategy 
and  stalking  that  the  seal  falls  a  victim  to  the 
bear.  The  bear's  skill  as  a  stalker  is  well  in- 
stanced by  an  incident  that  nearly  deprived 
Nansen  of  his  companion  Johansen,  during 
their  journey  from  the  Fram  to  Franz  Josef 
Land  across  the  Polar  Basin.  Before  either 
of  them  or  even  their  two  dogs  were  aware  of 
its  presence,  a  bear  had  felled  Johansen  by  his 
heavy  paw.  "The  bear,"  says  Nansen  in  his 
Farthest  North,  "must  have  followed  our  track 
like  a  cat,  and,  covered  by  ice-blocks,  have 
slunk  up  while  we  were  clearing  the  ice  from 


ANIMAL  LIFE  113 

the  lane  and  had  our  backs  to  him.  We  could 
see  by  the  trail  how  it  had  crept  over  a  small 
ridge  just  behind  us  under  cover  of  a  mound 
by  Johansen's  kayak.  While  the  latter,  with- 
out suspecting  anything  or  looking  round, 
went  back  and  stooped  down  to  pick  up  the 
hauling  rope,  he  suddenly  caught  sight  of  an 
animal  crouched  up  at  the  end  of  the  kayak, 
but  thought  it  was  'Suggen.'"  Fancy  taking 
a  bear  for  a  dog,  a  couple  of  yards  off  !  Yet 
I  know  how  possible  this  is,  having  myself  at 
various  times  mistaken  a  dog,  a  gull,  and  a 
flag  for  a  bear  ! — "Before  he  had  time  to  realise 
that  it  was  so  big,  he  received  a  cuff  on  the 
ear  which  made  him  see  fireworks,  and  then, 
as  I  mentioned  before,  over  he  went  on  his 
back.  He  tried  to  defend  himself  as  best  he 
could  with  his  fists  :  with  one  hand  he  seized 
the  throat  of  the  animal,  and  held  fast, 
clenching  it  with  all  his  might.  It  was  just 
as  the  bear  was  about  to  bite  Johansen  on  the 
head  that  he  uttered  the  memorable  words, 
'Look  sharp  !'  The  bear  kept  glancing  at  me 
continually,  speculating,  no  doubt,  as  to  what 
I  was  going  to  do  ;  but  then  caught  sight  of 
the  dog  and  turned  towards  it.  Johansen  let 
go  as  quick  as  thought  and  wriggled  himself 
away,  while  the  bear  gave  Suggen  a  cuff  which 
made  him  howl  lustily,  just  as  he  does  when 
we  thrash  him.  Then  Kaifas  got  a  slap  on  the 


114  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

nose.  Meanwhile  Johansen  had  struggled  to 
his  legs,  and  when  I  fired  had  got  his  gun,  which 
was  sticking  out  of  the  kayak  hole.  The  only 
harm  done  was  that  the  bear  had  scraped  some 
grime  off  Johansen's  right  cheek,  so  that  he 
has  a  white  stripe  on  it,  and  had  given  him  a 
slight  wound  on  one  hand  ;  Kaifas  has  also 
got  a  scratch  on  his  nose.  Hardly  had  the  bear 
fallen,  before  we  saw  two  more  peeping  over 
a  hummock  a  little  way  off — cubs  who,  nat- 
urally, wanted  to  see  the  result  of  the  maternal 
chase.  They  were  two  large  cubs." 

I  was  once  similarly  stalked  by  a  bear  that 
watched  its  chance  for  a  long  time,  while  I  was 
busy  attending  to  some  baited  traps  lowered 
in  the  sea,  through  a  hole  in  the  ice,  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  shore  where  the 
encampment  was.  Fortunately,  by  the  vigi- 
lance of  one  of  my  comrades,  Armitage,  the  bear 
was  detected  when  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  his  prey,  and,  finding  he  was  discovered, 
made  off.  The  remarkable  swimming  powers 
of  the  bear  were  exhibited  well  on  this  occa- 
sion, for  he  took  to  the  water  and  began  to 
swim  towards  an  island  that  was  twelve  miles 
distant.  A  bear  is,  in  fact,  just  as  much  at 
home  in  the  water  as  on  the  ice,  and  often,  if 
it  comes  to  a  large  pool  of  water  in  the  floe,  a 
bear  will  swim  across  rather  than  take  the 
extra  trouble  of  walking  round. 


ANIMAL  LIFE  115 

Although  there  have  been  many  narrow 
escapes  from  polar  bears,  it  is  doubtful  if  there 
is  any  authentic  record  of  a  man  being  killed 
by  a  bear.  Dr.  Bb'rgen,  of  the  German  Polar 
Expedition  in  1869-70,  had  perhaps  one  of  the 
most  marvellous  escapes  that  has  ever  been 
recorded.  Dr.  Borgen  was  knocked  down  by 
a  bear  that  seized  him  by  the  head  in  its  jaws 
and  carried  him  off.  The  bear  and  its  victim 
were  followed,  and  the  bear  ultimately  shot. 
Dr.  Borgen  received  a  very  severe  scalp  wound, 
as  well  as  wounds  on  the  arm  and  hand,  from 
which,  however,  he  soon  miraculously  recovered, 
as  already  stated.  The  bear  seldom  comes  to 
the  land  as  long  as  he  can  get  plenty  of  seals 
on  the  sea  ice  ;  he  will  only  come  if  he  knows 
of  a  short  cut  across  some  land  or  glacier  to 
get  from  one  feeding-ground  to  another,  or  he 
will  come  to  eat  grass  as  a  dog  does  when  he  is 
not  feeling  well.  He  may  also  come  to  land 
if  there  is  a  human  encampment,  being  attracted 
by  the  smell  ;  and  this  habit  is  so  well  known 
that  hunters  when  ashore  or  on  board  a  ship 
will  burn  seal  or  bear  fat,  and  if  there  is  a  bear 
to  leeward  he  is  sure  to  come  up  to  the  encamp- 
ment or  ship.  In  this  way  about  120  bears 
were  seen  and  69  were  shot  in  Franz  Josef  Land 
during  1894-97,  by  the  Jackson-Harmsworth 
Expedition.  When  hungry,  a  bear  will  eat 
anything.  Koettlitz  found  seal,  grass,  seaweed, 


116  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

paper,  manilla  rope  yarn,  a  hard  lump  of  woven 
texture,  horse-dung,  macintosh  sheeting,  canvas, 
basaltic  pebbles  and  bear  blubber  in  the  stomachs 
of  thirty  bears  he  examined.  But  the  bear's 
usual  food  is  seal,  and  although  he  will  devour 
every  part  of  a  seal,  his  particular  fancy  is  the 
skin  and  blubber. 

Of  land  mammals,  musk-ox  (Ovibos  mos- 
chatus)  and  reindeer  (Rangifer  tarandus)  are 
the  most  noteworthy  and  useful  to  man.  The 
musk-ox  is  specially  interesting,  being  the 
single  representative  of  its  genus.  It  is  more 
nearly  allied  to  the  sheep  than  the  ox.  It  is 
about  two-thirds  of  the  size  of  the  American 
bison,  but  its  long  coat  of  hair  makes  it  look 
larger.  It  inhabits  the  northern  parts  of  the 
Canadian  mainland,  and  the  islands  to  the 
north  of  Canada  as  far  as  Grinnell  Land,  as 
well  as  the  coasts  of  Greenland.  In  prehistoric 
or  pleistocene  times  the  musk-ox  extended  to 
the  north-west  in  Alaska,  and  at  a  still  earlier 
period,  when  North  America  was  colder  than 
now,  the  musk-ox  ranged  as  far  south  as  Kansas 
and  Kentucky.  Musk-ox  bones  have  been  also 
found  in  the  frozen  soil  of  Siberia,  as  far  east 
as  the  Obi.  It  formerly  existed  as  far  south 
as  Wurtemburg,  while  the  Pyrenees  and  Alps 
seem  to  have  marked  the  southern  limits  of  its 
range.  The  skulls  have  been  dredged  up  from 
the  Dogger  Bank.  Unlike  the  bear,  the  musk- 


ANIMAL  LIFE  117 

oxen  keep  in  herds,  and  they  are  seldom  met 
singly.  "This  herding  gives  them  a  better 
chance  to  defend  themselves  against  their  one 
enemy,  the  arctic  wolf."  When  danger  is  at 
hand  they  "always  retreat,"  says  Mr.  Bieder- 
beek,  "to  some  elevation  near  by,  and  upon 
the  approach  of  the  enemy  they  form  in  a  perfect 
line,  their  heads  toward  their  foe  ;  or  if  at- 
tacked, at  more  than  one  point,  they  form  a  circle, 
their  glaring,  blood-shot  eyes  restlessly  watch- 
ing the  attack." 

Like  the  bear,  they  are  protected  by  their 
environment,  as  a  description  by  Captain  Otto 
Sverdrup  shows  (New  Land,  vol.  i,  p.  47).  "As 
I  was  working  my  way  past  a  sudden  bend  in 
the  valley,  I  suddenly  saw  both  animals  stand- 
ing high  up  on  a  steep  crag,  and  within  range. 
It  was  merely  by  chance  that  I  caught  sight 
of  them,  for  the  crag  was  exactly  the  same  colour 
as  the  animals,  and  this  was  the  only  place  in 
the  valley  of  that  particular  tint.  So  the  polar 
ox,  I  thought,  seeks  cover  from  the  prevailing 
tone  of  his  environment,  just  as  does  the  ptar- 
migan from  the  stones  and  juniper  in  summer, 
and  in  autumn,  after  it  has  changed  its  colour, 
from  the  large  patches  of  snow."  "Musk-ox," 
says  the  late  Dr.  E.  L.  Moss  (Shores  of  the  Polar 
Sea),  who  has  depicted  so  well  many  an  Arctic 
scene  by  his  pen  and  brush,  "rarely  attack, 
and  can  generally  be  approached  within  rifle- 


118  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

range  with  little  trouble.  Sometimes,  however, 
they  are  unaccountably  timid.  .  .  .  They  seemed 
to  take  some  time  to  realise  that  we  did  not 
belong  to  their  world.  But  having  once  made 
up  their  minds,  they  showed  even  more  terror 
than  wild  animals  usually  do.  Each  musk-ox 
gave  us  about  two  hundred  pounds  of  meat, 
often  most  excellent,  but  occasionally  tainted 
with  the  flavour  that  gives  them  their  name. 
We  failed  to  ascertain  the  source  of  this  char- 
acteristic. It  occurs  in  both  sexes  and  at  all 
ages  ;  and,  moreover,  it  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
musk-ox,  for  a  haunch  of  reindeer  presented  to 
us  by  the  governor  of  Egedesmunde  possessed 
the  very  same  flavour."  . 

The  musk-ox  has  been  a  most  valuable 
asset  to  polar  explorers.  Without  its  exist- 
ence the  north  and  east  coasts  of  Greenland 
could  not  have  been  unravelled  as  they  have 
been,  nor  could  exploration  have  been  carried 
on  so  effectually  in  the  Canadian  Arctic 
Archipelago. 

The  reindeer  (Rangifer  tarandus)  is  another 
not  only  striking  but  also  useful  Arctic  animal, 
and  one  of  the  most  widely  distributed. 
Some  consider  there  are  two  species,  but  that 
matters  little  just  now  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  reindeer  is  found  in  almost  every  Arctic 
land,  except  Franz  Josef  Land,  where  however 
at  one  time  it  used  to  exist,  since  their  horns 


ANIMAL  LIFE  119 

have  been  found  there  by  myself  and  others. 
Its  range  extends  so  far  south  on  the  European, 
Asiatic,  and  American  continents  that  it  may 
be  regarded  as  being  not  only  an  Arctic  but 
also  subarctic  animal.  The  reindeer  differs 
from  all  other  deer  in  that  both  male  and  female 
have  antlers,  though  those  of  the  female  are 
smaller.  The  genus  is  distinguished  by  the 
form  and  position  of  these  appendages,  which 
take  their  origin  immediately  over  the  occipital 
ridge  instead  of  low  down  in  the  forehead. 
Another  characteristic  is  the  broad-spreading 
hoof,  giving  a  good  surface  for  support  on  snow 
or  bog.  The  tail  is  conspicuously  white.  The 
larger  varieties  may  weigh  up  to  400  Ibs.  The 
reindeer  proves  most  valuable  nutriment  for 
Arctic  explorers,  and  Eskimo,  and  other  Arctic 
tribes;  and,  like  the  musk-ox,  has  constantly 
furthered  Arctic  exploration,  not  only  as  a  val- 
uable food  supply,  but  also  because  its  skin 
is  one  of  the  most  useful  articles  of  clothing. 
Reindeer-skin  sleeping-sacks  have  been  an  almost 
indispensable  part  of  the  equipment  of  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  explorers  ;  the  skin  of  the  young 
reindeer  is  suitable  for  various  articles  of  clothing. 
The  skin  of  the  legs  of  the  reindeer  buck  are 
made  into  "finnesko,"  the  most  useful  form  of 
winter  boots,  by  treatment  for  twenty-four 
hours  in  a  strong  decoction  of  birch  or  similar 
bark.  The  skin  of  the  hind  legs  is  used  for  the 


120  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

soles  and  sides,  and  that  of  the  fore  legs  for 
the  upper  leather,  the  hair  being  left  outside. 
Those  boots  are  worn  with  the  fur  outside, 
and  may  be  filled  inside  with  a  sedge  or 
"sennegroes."  They  are  very  suitable  both 
for  ski  and  Canadian  snow-shoes. 

The  northern  races  of  Europe  and  Asia  have 
domesticated  the  reindeer.  The  standard  of 
wealth  of  the  Lapp  is  according  to  the  number 
of  reindeer  he  possesses.  It  is  his  all  in  all. 
The  reindeer  transports  his  household  and 
himself  from  one  place  to  another  ;  it  supplies 
him  with  milk  and  meat  ;  it  clothes  his  family 
and  himself.  Its  bones  form  needles,  and  its 
sinews  threads.  Its  bones  also  make  spoons 
and  other  useful  articles  of  equipment.  All 
and  every  part  of  a  reindeer — living  or  dead — 
is  indispensable  to  him.  For  food  the  reindeer 
is  never  at  a  loss,  even  fending  for  itself  when 
winter  snow  covers  the  ground.  With  its  hoof 
the  reindeer  scrapes  away  the  snow  and  dis- 
covers underneath  the  reindeer  moss — a  lichen 
which  forms  a  favourite  food. 

It  is  pitiable  to  see  this  graceful  and  useful 
animal  ruthlessly  slaughtered,  as  it  has  been 
in  Spitsbergen  during  recent  years,  and  it  is 
discreditable  to  relate  that  a  person  of  exalted 
position  has  been  one  of  those  who  have  set  so 
deplorable  an  example.  Norwegian  hunters  are 
also  greatly  to  blame — not  even  hesitating 


ANIMAL  LIFE  121 

to  use  strychnine  and  other  poisons,  and  thus 
decimating  not  only  reindeer  but  also  bears, 
foxes,  birds,  and  other  animals,  and  transform- 
ing fertile  Spitsbergen  into  a  barren  cemetery. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  Arctic 
mammals  species  by  species,  and  it  is  indeed 
difficult  to  know  where  to  draw  the  line.  The 
elk  or  moose  (Alces  machlis)  ranges  north  of 
the  Arctic  circle,  and  has  to  withstand  Arctic 
conditions  of  weather,  but  it  is  a  forest  animal, 
and  along  with  a  host  of  other  mammals  may 
be  regarded  as  subarctic  rather  than  Arctic. 
The  Arctic  hare  (Lepus  timidus),  on  the  other 
hand,  is  a  mammal  that  penetrates  the  northern- 
most of  Arctic  lands,  being  widespread  over 
the  Canadian  Arctic  Archipelago  up  to  83° 
N.  latitude.  It  is  very  widely  distributed  over 
northern  Europe  and  Asia,  extending  from 
Ireland  to  Japan.  It  is  common  in  Scotland, 
where  it  is  known  as  the  blue  or  mountain  hare. 

Wolves  (Canis  lupus)  are  common  all  over 
the  Canadian  Arctic  Archipelago  and  Green- 
land, as  well  as  foxes,  of  which  there  are  many 
varieties.  The  silver  or  black  fox  (Canis  vulpes) 
is  said  to  be  a  variety  of  the  ordinary  British 
fox,  and  is  almost  the  most  valuable  of  all 
foxes.  It  is  entirely  black  except  the  tip  of 
the  tail,  which  is  usually  white.  The  silvery 
lustre  is  due  to  grey  rings  which  usually  mark 
the  black  hairs  on  the  head,  the  hinder  half 


122  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

of  the  back,  and  the  thighs.  The  blue  fox 
(Canis  lagopus)  is  next  in  value.  Its  coat  re- 
mains blue  all  the  winter,  the  hair  lengthening 
considerably.  The  Arctic  fox,  which  may  be 
a  variety  of  the  blue  fox,  has  a  short  greyish 
brown  and  white  coat  in  summer,  and  a  long 
white  coat  in  winter.  I  believe  these  two  forms 
seldom,  if  ever,  inter-breed.  These  foxes  are 
exceedingly  numerous  in  all  parts  of  the  Arctic 
Regions,  and  frequent  especially  the  many 
great  bird  rookeries  that  occur  in  Arctic  lands. 
They  are  among  the  most  characteristic  animals 
of  the  Arctic.  They  used  to  be  in  great  numbers 
in  Prince  Charles  Foreland,  where  the  Scottish 
Expedition  carried  out  survey  work  during 
three  summer  seasons,  but  the  advent  of  the 
Norwegian  hunter  with  his  traps  and  his 
devilish  poison  has  almost  exterminated  them. 
In  1906  and  1907  hundreds  of  these  animals 
were  seen,  but  in  1909  they  were  practically 
non-existent,  none  having  been  seen  by  any 
of  the  Conqueror's  party,  and  only  one  having 
been  heard  barking  although  almost  every 
part  of  the  island  was  traversed  by  the  ex- 
plorers. This  beautiful  animal  is  extraordi- 
narily bold,  though  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  tame.  The  Scottish  explorers  in  1906  and 
1907  had  these  animals  coming  to  within  a  few 
feet  of  them,  eating  the  fat  out  of  the  frying- 
pan  of  the  canteen,  stealing  the  sugar,  bacon 


ANIMAL  LIFE  123 

and  other  food-stuffs,  feeding  even  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  explorers,  and  sleeping  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  tent,  preferably  on  the  tops 
of  the  covered  caches  of  provisions.  On  one 
occasion  when  standing  cooking  by  the  canteen 
I  had  emptied  a  tin  of  condensed  milk  and  had 
dropped  it  on  the  ground,  when  a  fox  came 
between  my  legs  from  behind  and  made  off 
with  the  tin  which  was  lying  between  the  can- 
teen and  myself.  Yet  for  all  their  boldness 
and  audacity,  it  was  impossible  to  catch  them, 
for  while  giving  them  bacon  or  something  else 
out  of  your  hand,  and  watching  an  opportunity 
to  pounce  upon  them  and  secure  them,  the  fox 
too  had  its  pair  of  wonderful  eyes  fixed  upon 
yours  and  was  ready  at  the  slightest  sign  of 
any  hostile  move  on  your  part.  When  I  have 
been  chaining,  I  have  known  them  lick  the 
fat  off  the  steel  measuring-tape,  and  bite  off 
the  straps  of  my  sextant-case  lying  on  the  ground 
a  few  yards  from  me. 

In  August  they  lie  in  wait  in  shallow  holes 
in  the  ground,  watching  the  young  looms 
(guillemots)  coming  down  from  the  cliffs  ac- 
companied by  the  old  birds.  Should  the  young 
bird  fall  short  of  the  sea,  the  fox  immediately 
seizes  it,  provided  the  chick  has  escaped  the 
fate  of  being  swallowed  whole  by  a  glaucous 
gull.  On  one  occasion  I  was  watching,  under 
cover  of  a  large  rock,  two  or  three  foxes  lying 


124  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

thus  in  wait.  Presently  a  young  loom  accom- 
panied by  its  mother  came  flying  down  from 
the  rocky  cliffs  above,  and  fell  short  of  the  sea. 
The  devoted  mother  landed  near  by  to  urge 
its  young  on  to  the  sea  and  safety,  but  the 
nearest  fox,  swift  as  lightning,  in  bee-line,  head 
down,  eyes  absolutely  fixed  on  the  old  bird, 
made  a  rush  on  its  desired  prey.  Both  fox  and 
loom  were  out  of  range  of  my  gun,  but,  instinc- 
tively wishing  to  succour  the  weaker  one,  I 
ran  towards  the  spot  where  I  thought  they 
would  meet  and  at  long  range  fired  just  too  late, 
the  fox  dropping  to  my  shot  in  the  very  act  of 
plunging  its  teeth  in  the  loom's  neck.  The 
swiftness  of  the  whole  act  was  the  remarkable 
feature  of  this  striking  scene. 

Speaking  of  lemmings  (Myodes  torquatus) 
in  Grinnell  Land,  Admiral  Markham  says, 
"These  little  mouselike  creatures  are  the 
smallest  yet  the  most  numerous  and  common 
of  all  quadrupeds  in  the  Arctic  Regions. 
They  are  extremely  pugnacious  and  fearless, 
and  often  attract  attention,  when  they  would 
otherwise  be  unobserved,  by  their  shrill  cries 
of  rage  at  an  approaching  step.  They  hiber- 
nate in  burrows  under  the  snow,  and  live 
during  the  summer  on  the  scant  vegetation 
of  these  regions."  With  epicurean  satisfaction 
the  explorer  further  narrates,  "When  roasted 
and  served  up  on  toast,  like  sparrows,  they 


ANIMAL  LIFE  125 

were  found  to  be  excellent  eating,  although 
provokingly  small."  They  have  been  met  with 
on  the  sea  ice  three  miles  from  the  nearest 
land.  There  appear  to  be  no  lemmings  in 
Spitsbergen  or  Franz  Josef  Land,  but  other- 
wise they  occur  in  all  Arctic  lands,  and  spread 
themselves  far  south  in  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America.  Brehm  has  graphically  described  the 
countless  swarms  of  lemmings  that  sweep  the 
tundra,  leaving  a  track  of  desolation  in  their 
rear. 

Such  is  the  mammalian  life  of  Arctic  lands  : 
think  of  the  contrast  in  Antarctica,  where,  in 
an  area  of  five  and  a  half  million  square  miles, 
or  a  continent  the  size  of  Europe  and  Australia 
combined,  there  is  not  a  single  mammal  !  Nor, 
as  far  as  we  know,  did  mammals  ever  exist  in 
that  mighty  continent  at  any  time  ! 

Just  as  Australia  was  cut  off  from  northern 
lands  before  the  advent  of  the  carnivores  or 
any  of  the  higher  mammals,  so  there  seems  good 
evidence  that  the  great  continent  of  Antarctica, 
which  appears  to  have  been  connected  at  one 
time  with  Australia,  New  Zealand,  South  Africa, 
and  South  America,  was  isolated  before  the 
advent  of  mammals  in  the  Trias,  in  which 
system  the  first  relics  of  mammalian  life  appear. 
The  land  connections  of  Antarctica  with  ad- 
jacent continents  have  been  dated  even  as  late 
as  Eocene  times.  "The  exact  date  at  which 


126  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  Antarctic  continent  had  its  great  exten- 
sion northward  can  perhaps  hardly  be  definitely 
decided  upon  at  present.  Hutton  argues  for 
the  Jurassic  period  as  the  period  of  greater 
extension  ;  but  since  he  wrote  much  further 
evidence  has  arisen,  and  it  seems  probable 
that  the  date  should  be  placed  later — perhaps 
in  Eocene  times.  Ortmann,  discussing  the 
matter  from  a  somewhat  different  aspect,  con- 
siders that  it  probably  occurred  in  the  Cre- 
taceous and  Eocene  periods"  (Dr.  C.  Chilton, 
in  Subantarctic  Islands  of  New  Zealand,  vol. 
ii,  p.  807  :  Philosophical  Institute  of  Canter- 
bury, 1909).  But  even  if  Antarctica  was  united 
at  later  times  to  Australia  or  to  the  southern 
extremities  of  South  America  and  South  Africa 
at  the  time  the  western  and  more  ancient  part 
of  Australia  possessed  "the  ancestral  forms 
of  its  strange  marsupial  fauna,  both  of  which 
it  had  probably  received  at  some  earlier  epoch 
by  a  temporary  union  with  the  Asiatic  con- 
tinent over  what  is  now  the  Java  Sea"  (Island 
Life,  by  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  p.  497),  we 
could  only  conceive  of  marsupial  forms  occurring 
on  the  continent  of  Antarctica.  It  is  quite  clear 
from  the  fossils  brought  home  by  Dr.  Donald 
of  the  Scottish  Expedition  of  1892-93,  by  the 
more  recent  able  researches  of  Dr.  Otto  Norden- 
skjold  and  his  companions  during  the  Swedish 
Antarctic  Expedition  of  1901-04  in  the  same 


ANIMAL  LIFE  127 

region,  as  well  as  by  the  researches  of  Dr.  Pirie 
of  the  Scotia,  the  naturalists  of  the  Discovery 
and  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  recent  expedi- 
tion, that  at  one  time,  certainly  in  Jurassic 
times,  there  must  have  been  a  temperate  if  not 
a  subtropical  climate  over  Antarctica.  There- 
fore, if  there  happened  to  be  land  connection 
with  Antarctica  at  even  as  late  a  date  as  I  have, 
for  the  sake  of  argument,  supposed — and  there 
is  so  far  no  evidence  that  there  was — it  would 
have  been  possible,  under  those  conditions 
of  climate,  for  marsupials  to  exist.  But  with 
the  changed  conditions  of  climate  it  does  not 
seem  likely  that  they  or  their  descendants  could 
possibly  survive.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising 
that  there  should  be  no  mammals  in  Antarctic 
lands,  though  they  are  abundant  in  the  Arctic, 
where  there  are  even  now  plentiful  connections 
with  lands  largely  occupied  by  mammals  of 
almost  every  description. 

But  if  the  Antarctic  lands  are  desolate  of 
mammals  it  is  not  so  with  the  Antarctic  seas. 
As  in  Arctic  seas,  whales  and  seals  abound  in 
enormous  numbers,  except  where  they  have 
been  annihilated  by  man.  Of  the  whales  very 
little  is  known.  Ross  described  a  whale 
"greatly  resembling,  but  said  to  be  distinct 
from,  the  Greenland  whale."  But  so  far  no 
such  whale  has  been  seen  by  other  explorers 
or  whalers  within  the  limit  of  the  pack  ice, 


128  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

although  we  know  of  at  least  two  other  right 
whales  in  subantarctic  waters.  Finners  (Baloe- 
noptera),  humpbacks  (Megaptera),  and  thrashers 
(Oreo)  have,  however,  been  recorded,  and  on 
the  edge  of  the  ice,  blackfish  (Globiocephalus). 
These  great  whales  very  often  occur  in  immense 
schools  in  Antarctic  seas.  The  Scottish  Ex- 
pedition of  1892-93  passed  through  thousands 
of  finner  whales.  On  December  16,  1892, 
many  came  quite  close  to  the  ship,  and,  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach  in  all  directions,  one 
could  see  their  curved  backs,  and  see  and  hear 
their  resounding  blasts.  During  recent  years 
these  whales  have  been  greatly  hunted  by 
Argentine,  Chilian,  Norwegian  and  British  Whal- 
ing Companies,  in  the  same  manner  as  similar 
whales  have  been  hunted  in  northern  European 
and  Spitsbergen  waters.  Whaling  stations  have 
been  set  up  by  these  companies  on  the  South 
Shetlands  (Deception  Island),  South  Georgia, 
and  more  recently  at  the  Falkland  Islands, 
and  the  results  of  these  fishings  have  been  a 
very  handsome  dividend  to  the  shareholders. 
The  southern  right  whale  (Baloena  australis) 
is  also  caught  by  these  whalers.  It  is  reported, 
however,  although  this  industry  has  been  estab- 
lished only  for  five  or  six  years,  that  the 
numbers  of  the  whales  have  already  markedly 
diminished.  But  these  whales  penetrate  well 
into  the  pack,  where  the  small  iron  steamers 


ANIMAL  LIFE  129 

dare  not  follow,  so  there  is  yet  a  chance  that 
they  will  not  be  altogether  exterminated.  The 
purely  commercial  aspect  of  these  whaling 
expeditions  has,  so  far,  made  it  impossible 
to  make  any  detailed  scientific  cetacean  investi- 
gation. A  most  profitable  scientific  investiga- 
tion would  be  a  cetacean  expedition,  which 
devoted  its  whole  time  with  two  or  three  ships 
to  the  study  of  these  Antarctic  whales,  and, 
indeed,  to  the  study  of  whales  all  the  world  over. 
It  is  not  possible  for  an  Antarctic  exploring 
ship,  with  so  many  other  duties  to  perform,  to 
carry  out  this  very  important  work. 

In  Arctic  seas  the  most  notable  whale  is 
the  Greenland  or  Bowhead  whale  (Balcena 
mysticetus)  which  has  been  captured  in  enormous 
numbers  in  the  past.  In  the  seventeenth 
century  there  was  a  Dutch  settlement  called 
Smeerenburg,  in  the  north-west  of  Spitsbergen, 
where  the  oil  was  boiled  down  and  the  whale- 
bone collected.  As  many  as  2,000  people 
lived  and  worked  there  during  the  summer 
months,  women  as  well  as  men,  as  any  one 
visiting  Spitsbergen  at  the  present  day  can 
determine  by  reading  both  men's  and  women's 
names  on  the  old  Dutch  wooden  crosses,  that 
have  stood  there  in  some  cases  for  three  hun- 
dred years,  and  many  of  which  are  still  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation.  Coffin  after  coffin 
is  seen  projecting  half  above  the  ground ;  human 
skulls  and  bones  lie  in  and  around  them. 


130  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Other  species  are  similar  to  those  of  the 
Antarctic  seas,  but  not  nearly  so  numerous, 
and  besides  these  there  are  two  worthy  of 
special  mention,  namely,  the  White  whale 
(Delphinapterus  leucas)  and  the  Narwhal  (Mon- 
odon  monoceros).  The  white  whale  is  found 
skirting  the  shores  of  almost  every  Arctic  land, 
and  is  very  easily  distinguished  by  its  cream- 
coloured  skin  ;  so  regular  are  its  movements 
along  a  coast  that  skilful  hunters  seldom  fail 
to  secure  the  greater  part  of  a  school  of  them 
by  knowing  that  they  will  travel  along  a  cer- 
tain coast  by  a  certain  route.  They  are  driven 
ashore  by  means  of  boats  and  nets.  They 
yield  a  considerable  amount  of  oil,  and  their 
skins  are  manufactured  into  "porpoise"  boot- 
laces. The  narwhal  is  nearly  allied  to  the 
white  whale,  but  is  easily  distinguished  by  the 
male's  single  long  spiral  ivory  tusk,  often  7 
or  8  feet  long,  which  has  earned  for  it  the  name 
of  "unicorn,"  or  "uni,"  by  whalers.  It  is 
hunted  by  whalers  for  the  value  of  the  ivory 
of  the  tusk  and  for  its  oil  ;  the  tusk  is  usually 
developed  on  the  left  side,  but  occasionally 
two  are  developed.  It  has  a  circumpolar  range. 
(For  a  fuller  account  of  Arctic  whales  and  seals 
than  is  possible  here,  see  papers  by  Dr.  R. 
Brown  on  "Seals  of  Greenland  and  Spitsbergen 
Seas"  (Proceedings  Zoological  Society,  London, 
1868,  pp.  405-438),  and  on  "Cetacea  of  Davis 


ANIMAL  LIFE  131 

Straits  and  Baffin  Bay"  (P.Z.S.,  1868,  pp. 
533-556).  Both  papers,  in  revised  form,  in 
Arctic  Manual  and  Instructions,  1875.) 

Four  species  of  seals  are  known  to  inhabit 
Antarctic  seas.  The  first  concrete  accounts  of 
these  animals  were  brought  back  by  Weddell, 
D'Urville,  Wilkes,  and  Ross.  But  it  was  not 
until  after  the  departure  of  the  Scottish  Expe- 
dition in  1892  that  much  was  known  about 
them.  The  best  known  and  most  widely 
distributed  is  the  Weddell  seal  (Leptonychotes 
weddelli)  which  is  found  on,  or  near,  all  Ant- 
arctic shores.  The  least  known  is  the  Ross 
seal  (Ommatophoca  rossi)  ;  this  is  the  rarest 
true  seal  in  the  world.  Very  few  of  these 
have  ever  been  seen,  and  not  many  occur  in 
collections.  The  other  two  species  are  the 
Crab-eating  or  White  Antarctic  seal  (Lobodon 
carcinophaga)  and  the  Sea-leopard  seal  (Steno- 
rhyncus  leptonyx).  The  latter  is  a  very  remark- 
able seal,  noted  for  its  litheness  and  swiftness. 
It  chases,  catches,  and  feeds  on  penguins  in 
the  sea.  Mr.  Wilton,  of  the  Scotia,  records 
that  "a  sea-leopard  was  observed  to  catch  a 
black-throated  penguin  by  the  leg  and  haul 
him  down  in  the  water." 

Another  true  seal  occasionally  penetrates  the 
pack,  but  is  really  an  inhabitant  of  subantarctic 
lands  and  seas  :  this  is  the  Great  Sea-elephant 
seal  (Macrorhinus  leoninus),  the  male  of  which 
measures  about  twenty  feet  in  length. 


132  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

The  Southern  Fur  seal  (Otaria  australis)  is 
also  an  animal  that  is  confined  to  subantarctic 
and  south  temperate  seas.  It  does  not  enter 
the  pack.  Much  could  be  said  about  this 
interesting  animal,  concerning  the  enormous 
numbers,  the  animal's  habits  and  home,  and 
how  stupid  seal-hunters  destroyed  a  valuable 
industry  for  half  a  century  by  massacring 
millions  of  these  fur  seals,  not  hesitating  to 
kill  mothers  suckling  their  young,  which  per- 
ished in  hundreds  of  thousands  (Pinnipeds, 
J.  A.  Allen,  Washington,  1880,  p.  230). 

Arctic  seals,  like  Arctic  birds,  are  more 
numerous  in  species,  but  probably  not  in  num- 
bers of  individuals.  Bloody  slaughter  is  re- 
corded in  the  north  as  in  the  south,  especially 
in  the  case  of  the  Walrus  (Trichechus  rosmarus), 
which  has  been  absolutely  exterminated  in 
some  parts  of  the  Arctic,  where  formerly  it  used 
to  occur  in  great  herds  (Seasons  with  the  Sea 
Horses,  Lament,  1861). 

Much  has  been  written  recently  regarding 
the  great  fur-seal  fisheries  of  Alaska  and  the 
Behring  Straits,  and  Labrador,  but  those  Fur 
seals  (Otaria  ursina),  like  their  cousins  hi  the 
south,  are  subarctic  rather  than  Arctic  ;  they 
keep  outside  the  polar  pack.  The  real  Arctic 
seals  are,  with  the  exception  of  the  walrus, 
like  the  Antarctic  seals,  all  "true  or  earless 
seals,"  that  is  Phocidse.  There  are  several 


ANIMAL  LIFE  133 

species,  notably  the  Greenland  seal  (Phoca 
grcenlandica),  the  Bearded  seal  or  square 
flipper  (P.  barbata),  the  Ringed  seal  (P. 
hispidd),  the  Floe-rat  (P.  fcetida),  the  Hooded 
or  bladder-nosed  seal  (Cystophora  cristatd).  Of 
these  probably  the  Greenland  seal  is  the 
commonest.  These  animals  assemble  in  immense 
herds,  especially  on  the  ice  in  Newfoundland 
seas.  "In  Greenland  the  annual  catch  was 
estimated  at  33,000,  while  that  in  Newfound- 
land used  to  exceed  500,000,  and  in  Jan  Mayen 
seas  the  total  number  killed  each  year  was 
fully  30,000."  Fortunately  the  killing  of  these 
seals,  like  that  of  the  fur  seals,  is  now  regulated 
by  law,  and  although  they  may  sometimes  be 
over-killed,  yet  there  is  not  altogether  reckless 
slaughter.  The  bearded  seal  is  the  largest 
of  Arctic  seals,  and  although  it  is  not  so  large 
as  some  Antarctic  species,  yet  it  may  attain 
a  length  of  about  ten  feet.  Like  other  mammals 
in  Spitsbergen,  all  these  seals  have  been  largely 
killed  out  in  that  archipelago. 

The  birds  of  the  Polar  Regions  are  a  char- 
acteristic feature,  and  again  there  is  the  striking 
fact  that,  although  Arctic  lands  teem  with  many 
species  of  birds,  there  are,  with  the  exception 
of  the  migratory  Chionis,  no  Antarctic  land 
birds.  This  is  probably  due  in  part  to  the 
geological  reasons  that  explain  the  absence 
of  mammals,  in  part  to  the  obvious  difficulty 


134  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

of  fragile  land  birds  getting  to  Antarctic  lands 
across  the  wide  expanse  of  the  stormy  Great 
Southern  Ocean,  and  also  in  part  to  the  fact 
that,  if  they  did  arrive  there,  they  would  find 
hardly  any  suitable  nesting-place,  and  would 
be  without  their  necessary  food  supply  on 
account  of  the  scarcity  of  plant  life,  especially 
the  practical  absence  of  flowering  plants  and 
flower- visiting  insects.  Scoresby,  hi  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Scoresby  Sound  at  Cape  Swainson 
in  71°  N.  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  says, 
"Numbers  of  winged  insects,  however,  were 
met  with,  particularly  on  the  hills  among  the 
stones.  These  consisted  of  several  species  of 
butterflies,  with  bees  and  mosquitoes  !  Near 
the  beach  were  several  plants  in  flower,  with 
a  few  that  were  further  advanced  and  in  a  state 
of  fructification."  What  a  paradise  for  Arctic 
land  birds,  and  what  a  contrast  to  the  barren 
rocks  of  Antarctica,  almost  completely  oblit- 
erated with  ice  and  snow  !  How  could  there 
be  land  birds  in  Antarctica  ? 

Arctic  land  birds  are  full  of  interest,  but  it 
is  impossible  to  enter  into  any  detail  concern- 
ing them  here.  The  reader  should  look  into 
the  works  of  Seebohm,  Feilden,  Harvie-Brown 
and  Pearson,  as  well  as  the  delightful  pictures 
of  tundra  life  that  Brehm  gives.  (For  the 
natural  history  of  Arctic  birds  reference  should 
be  made  to  the  following  : — From  North  Pole 


ANIMAL  LIFE  135 

to  Equator,  A.  E.  Brehm  ;  Beyond  Petsora  East- 
ward, Henry  J.  Pearson,  with  appendices  by 
Colonel  H.  W.  Feilden,  C.B.  ;  The  Birds  of 
Siberia,  Henry  Seebohm  ;  Travels  of  a  Natural- 
ist in  Northern  Europe,  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown.) 
The  most  typical  of  all  Arctic  birds  is  the  Snow 
Bunting  (Plectrophenax  nivalis),  which  is  in 
immense  numbers,  and  which  finds  a  home 
and  nesting-place  in  every  Arctic  land,  no  matter 
how  bleak.  The  snow  bunting  arrives  in  Franz 
Josef  Land  about  the  middle  of  April,  and  has 
been  recorded  to  remain  plentifully  until 
October  14th,  and  stragglers  not  leaving  until 
October  30th,  three  days  after  the  disappearance 
of  the  sun  in  that  latitude,  viz.  80°  N.  The 
nests,  which  are  made  of  dried  grass  and 
feathers,  are  built  among  stones,  under  shelter 
of  over-lying  rocks,  in  rock  crevices,  and  under 
peaty  banks.  There  are  usually  five  to  seven 
eggs.  The  young  birds  have  been  recorded 
as  early  as  July  10th  in  Franz  Josef  Land. 
The  Purple  Sandpiper  (Tringa  striatd)  is  the 
next  most  plentiful  Arctic  land  bird.  It  is 
usually  the  first  bird  that  meets  the  Arctic 
explorer  on  landing.  The  first  sandpiper  of 
the  season  recorded  in  Franz  Josef  Land  was 
seen  on  May  29th.  Late  in  June  eggs  were 
found,  and  on  July  4th  the  first  young  sand- 
pipers were  captured.  The  nest  is  built  in  a 
hollow  among  Arctic  willow,  lichen,  and  the 


136  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

like,  and  is  very  difficult  to  see,  either  when 
the  eggs  are  bare  or  when  the  bird  is  sitting 
upon  them,  because  of  the  remarkable  resem- 
blance of  the  bird,  eggs,  and  nest  to  its  sur- 
roundings. One  may  almost  tread  on  the  bird 
before  it  will  rise,  and  even  then  the  nest  is 
difficult  to  find.  A  known  nest  at  a  definite 
number  of  feet  in  a  certain  direction  from  a 
prominent  mark  is  very  difficult  to  see.  Of 
course,  this  may  also  be  said  of  many  other  birds 
and  eggs,  but  it  is  perhaps  as  pronounced  in 
the  case  of  the  purple  sandpiper  as  any  other 
bird.  There  are  many  other  birds  that  could 
be  noticed — the  Knot  (Tringa  canutd),  whose 
eggs  have  only  recently  been  found  ;  the 
Sanderling  (Calidris  arenarid)  ;  the  Grey  Phale- 
rope  (Phalaropus  fulicarius)  ;  the  Dunlin  (Tringa 
alpina)  ;  the  Little  Stint  (Tringa  minuta), 
which  Pearson  found  breeding  in  such  numbers 
in  Novaya  Zemlya  ;  the  Lapland  Bunting 
(Calcarius  lapponicus),  Redpoles  (Linota)  and 
many  others  of  the  smaller  birds  too  many 
to  enumerate.  Then  there  is  the  Ptarmigan 
(Lagopus  rupestris  and  L.  hemileucurus),  and 
the  Willow  Grouse  (Lagopus  albus),  which  vary 
their  plumage  with  the  season,  so  that  they 
are  at  all  times  very  much  in  accord  with  their 
surroundings,  whether  the  snow  is  white  or 
dirty  yellow,  or  whether  they  are  sitting  among 
lichen-covered  stones.  These  birds  form  most 


ANIMAL  LIFE  137 

excellent  food,  the  ptarmigan  being  common 
to  almost  all  Arctic  lands,  even  beyond  the 
83rd  parallel  of  north  latitude.  Birds  of  prey, 
notably  the  Snowy  Owl  (Nyctea  scandiacd) 
and  the  Greenland  Falcon  (Falco  candicans) 
are  also  characteristic  birds  in  many  Arctic 
lands. 

But  when  we  come  to  consider  sea  birds, 
then  the  Antarctic  Regions  are  as  rich  as  the 
Arctic  Regions,  if  not  in  species,  certainly  in 
numbers.  The  two  most  characteristic  orders 
of  birds  are  penguins  and  petrels.  Besides 
these  there  is  a  shag,  one  gull,  two  skuas,  and 
two  terns.  The  penguins  literally  swarm  in 
millions,  and  occupy  every  available  space 
of  bare  ground  near  the  sea  that  is  not  ice- 
covered.  These  crowded  areas  recall  the  re- 
markable bird  cliffs  and  isolated  bird  islands 
of  the  Arctic  Regions.  So  numerous  are  pen- 
guins even  in  subantarctic  islands  that  sealers 
have  resorted  to  the  barbarous  method  of 
boiling  these  birds  down  indiscriminately  for 
the  sake  of  the  valuable  oil  that  they  contain. 
This  custom  has  been  rightly  put  a  stop  to 
in  some  British  possessions.  The  most  remark- 
able penguin  that  exists  in  the  Antarctic  Regions 
is  the  Emperor  penguin  (Aptenodytes  forsteri), 
which,  though  not  so  numerous  as  other  species, 
is  found  in  very  great  numbers  in  certain  places, 
as,  for  instance,  Victoria  Land,  Coats  Land, 


138  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

and  other  lands  that  are  situated  well  within 
the  ice  limit.  It  is  the  handsomest  and  largest 
of  all  penguins,  an  adult,  when  in  good  con- 
dition, weighing  about  eighty  pounds. 

D'Urville  was  the  first  to  discover  and  bring 
back  to  Paris  the  egg  of  the  Emperor  Penguin, 
but  nothing  was  known  about  the  breeding 
habits  of  this  remarkable  bird  until  Dr.  Wilson 
and  the  naturalists  of  the  Discovery  brought 
back  the  first  description.  The  bird  builds  no 
nest,  but  sits  on  the  ice  and  lays  a  single  egg, 
which  it  places  on  the  top  of  its  feet  and  covers 
by  a  flap  of  skin  and  feathers.  The  egg  being 
laid  before  the  winter  is  over  and  hatched  before 
the  advent  of  spring,  there  is  heavy  mortality 
among  the  chicks.  The  chick  is  nestled  on 
the  feet  of  the  parent  bird,  and  kept  warm  like 
the  egg  by  the  flap  of  skin  and  feathers,  which 
surrounds  it  almost  like  a  marsupial  pouch. 
In  spite  of  the  care  thus  taken  of  the  chicks, 
many  die  from  exposure,  and  each  bird  if  it 
has  not  a  chick  of  its  own  is  anxious  to  secure 
one  from  its  neighbour.  The  early  breeding 
of  the  Emperor  Penguin  has  possibly  arisen  from 
the  necessity  of  giving  sufficient  time  by  the  end 
of  the  summer  for  the  young  bird  to  develop 
to  such  a  stage  of  maturity  that  it  can  by  that 
time  fend  for  itself. 

Other  penguins  are  all  very  much  smaller 
than  the  Emperor,  weighing  about  8  to  14  Ibs., 


ANIMAL  LIFE  139 

the  most  plentiful  and  characteristic  species 
is  the  Black-throated  penguin  (Pygoscelis  adelice). 
This  species  is  common  to  every  Antarctic 
seaboard  that  explorers  have  yet  visited.  The 
Scotia  naturalists  estimated  that,  on  Ferrier 
Peninsula  alone,  which  was  for  two  or  three 
miles  simply  alive  with  these  birds,  there  were 
not  less  than  two  millions.  Altogether,  in 
Laurie  Island,  South  Orkneys  and  its  off-lying 
islets,  no  less  than  fourteen  rookeries  were  known, 
besides  the  Ferrier  Peninsula  rookery.  The 
favourite  sites  for  these  communities  were  on 
rocky  places  near  the  sea,  where  small  stones 
abounded,  and  these  were  sometimes  occupied 
up  to  500  ft.  above  sea-level.  As  the  season 
advanced  these  rookeries  became  indescribably 
dirty,  being  masses  of  mud,  with  pools  of  filth, 
and  the  birds  themselves  became  correspondingly 
defiled. 

At  the  rookeries  in  Scotia  Bay  the  first  signs 
of  nest-building  were  noted  (1903)  on  October 
10th.  By  the  20th  nearly  all  were  paired, 
and  the  appearance  of  an  unpaired  bird  gave 
rise  to  a  fearful  commotion,  every  bird  trying 
to  get  a  billful  of  feathers  from  the  unhappy 
one,  while  all  the  penguins  in  the  vicinity  raised 
their  voices  and  screeched  their  loudest. 

The  appearance  of  such  wanderers,  too, 
generally  resulted  in  a  free  fight-  among  those 
around. 


140  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

The  nests  are  built  of  stones,  which  the 
penguins  gather  often  from  a  long  distance, 
and  they  may  be  lined  with  a  few  stray  quills 
and  a  bone  or  two.  Every  bird  is  an  accom- 
plished thief,  and  whenever  possible  steals 
stones  from  its  neighbour's  nest.  There  are 
usually  two  eggs.  The  first  egg  found  by  the 
Scotia  naturalists  was  taken  on  October  29th  ; 
on  October  31st  no  less  than  739  eggs  were 
gathered  from  the  same  rookery,  and  between 
November  2nd  and  10th  no  less  than  2,075 
eggs  were  taken  for  domestic  use.  The  period 
of  incubation  is  about  thirty- two  days.  Both 
the  flesh  and  the  eggs  of  this  penguin  form 
very  nutritious  and  palatable  food.  Besides 
the  black-throated  penguin,  it  was  estimated 
that  there  were  at  least  100,000  Gentoo  pen- 
guins (Pygoscelis  papua)  in  the  Scotia  Bay 
rookeries.  The  naturalists  of  the  Scotia  were 
fortunate  in  falling  in  with  a  great  number  of 
the  Ringed  penguin  (Pygoscelis  antarcticd)  at 
the  South  Orkneys  at  several  rookeries,  notably 
at  Ellium  Isle  and  Saddle  Island.  At  a  rookery 
on  Mackenzie  Peninsula  there  were  about  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  ringed  penguins,  and 
the  rookery  at  Saddle  Island  was  tenanted  by 
about  50,000  birds.  They  were  entirely  absent 
during  the  winter,  not  reaching  the  South 
Orkneys  till  November  2nd.  Over  1,000  eggs 
were  taken  by  Dr.  Pirie  on  December  12th, 


ANIMAL  LIFE  141 

at  the  Mackenzie  Peninsula  rookery.  There  is 
one  very  remarkable  discovery  the  Scotia  nat- 
uralists made  with  regard  to  the  young  of  this 
bird,  and  that  is,  that  the  chick  has  two 
stages  of  down.  This  is  a  most  interesting 
discovery,  for  no  other  bird  is  known  to  have 
more  than  one  down  stage.  These  are  the  four 
species  of  penguins  characteristic  of  the  Ant- 
arctic Regions,  though  the  golden  crested  or 
Marconi  penguin  (Catarrhactes  chrysolophus)  is 
also  recorded  from  the  South  Orkneys  as  a 
straggler,  and  breeds  at  the  South  Shetlands. 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  there  are  several  million 
penguins  of  at  least  three  species  on  South 
Orkneys  alone  !  Imagine  the  legions  that  swarm 
on  every  possible  Antarctic  coast  ! 

Among  the  important  ornithological  results 
of  the  Scottish  National  Expedition,  not  the 
least  striking  were  the  investigations  made 
by  the  Scotia  naturalists  on  petrels.  Wilson 
petrels  (Oceanites  Oceanians)  were  found  breed- 
ing in  considerable  numbers,  and  several  eggs 
were  obtained.  They  had  only  previously  been 
found  breeding  on  Kerguelen.  The  occurrence 
of  the  Black-bellied  stormy  petrel  (Fregetta 
melanogaster),  says  Mr.  Eagle  Clarke,  "was 
one  of  the  most  interesting  ornithological 
discoveries  made  by  the  expedition.  It  implies 
a  remarkable  extension  in  its  known  range, 
and  removes  the  doubt  which  has  hitherto 


142  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

overshadowed  the  record  of  its  having  bred 
at  South  Georgia,  as  mentioned  by  Pagenstecher, 
in  the  southern  summer  of  1882-83." 

Other  interesting  discoveries  made  by  the 
Scotia  naturalists  were  the  finding  the  eggs 
of  the  Cape  pigeon  (Daption  capensis)  and 
the  young  of  the  Snowy  petrel  (Pagodroma 
nivea).  From  their  observations,  too,  it  may 
almost  certainly  be  forecasted  that  the  Antarctic 
fulmar  (Thalassceca  antarctica)  and  the  Silver 
petrel  (Priocella  glacialoides)  will  be  found  to 
breed  in  the  South  Orkneys.  Such  a  series 
of  records  made  in  one  order  of  birds  in  one 
locality  by  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Wilton,  Dr.  Pirie 
and  Dr.  Rudmose  Brown,  apart  from  many 
other  valuable  records,  may  safely  be  said  to 
be  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  Polar 
exploration.  -»«•_ 

Petrels,  next  to  penguins,  are  scattered  most 
widely  all  over  the  Antarctic  Regions,  and  are 
in  most  cases  common,  not  only  in  that  region, 
but  also  in  the  Great  Southern  Ocean,  where 
many  other  species  which  do  not  penetrate 
into  the  ice  zone  occur.  One  of  the  most 
striking  of  these  is  Wilson's  petrel,  which  can 
be  followed  from  British  waters  to  the  farthest 
southern  limit  of  Antarctic  seas,  and  which  is 
found  breeding,  as  I  have  indicated,  in  the 
South  Orkneys,  Kerguelen,  and  probably  other 
Antarctic  islands.  In  all  probability  the  birds 


ANIMAL  LIFE  143 

in  British  waters  breed  in  Antarctic  islands  ! 
This  fact  is  hardly  conceivable  when  we  consider 
the  proportions  of  the  bird,  which  are  much 
the  same  as  those  of  a  swallow,  but  the  same 
remarkable  fact  appears  to  hold  good  for  the 
Arctic  tern,  which  breeds  in  the  Arctic  Regions, 
and  which  was  discovered  by  the  Scotia  nat- 
uralists to  be  spending  its  days,  during  the 
northern  winter,  in  the  seas  off  Coats  Land  ! 

Ross  regarded  the  presence  of  the  Snowy 
petrel  as  a  sign  of  proximity  of  the  Antarctic 
pack,  and  this  observation  appears  to  be  per- 
fectly correct,  for  there  are  few  days,  whilst 
navigating  in  the  pack,  that  one  does  not  meet 
this  graceful  bird.  It  is  circumpolar  in  dis- 
tribution, and  breeds  in  most  inaccessible  cliffs 
on  nearly  all  Antarctic  coasts.  For  three 
hundred  years  the  Cape  pigeon  has  been  known 
to  every  South  Sea  sailor,  but  the  eggs  were 
first  taken  by  Dr.  Pine  on  the  cliffs  of  Mount 
Ramsay,  on  the  west  side  of  Jessie  Bay,  South 
Orkneys,  in  1903.  This  species  which  we  are 
inclined  to  regard  as  the  most  plentiful  bird 
in  the  world,  will  probably  be  found  to  breed 
on  most  Antarctic  and  subantarctic  islands, 
and  on  many  parts  of  the  coast-line  of  Ant- 
arctica, and  is  found  scattered  over  the  whole 
of  the  vast  Southern  Ocean  from  35°  S.  to  the 
edge  of  the  Antarctic  continent.  Fully  50,000 
of  these  birds  breed  in  the  South  Orkneys. 


144  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Their  nests,  composed  of  small  angular  fragments 
of  rock  and  some  earth,  are  placed  on  the  ledges 
of  precipitous  cliffs.  The  Cape  pigeon,  like 
other  petrels,  has  the  habit  of  ejecting  from 
its  tubular  nostrils  a  red,  oily,  foul-smelling 
fluid,  composed  of  the  half-digested  remains 
of  crustaceans  (Euphausid).  The  naturalists 
visiting  the  nests  had  to  risk  having  this  fluid 
squirted  over  their  face  and  clothes.  The 
birds  can  squirt  this  fluid  to  a  distance  of  six 
or  eight  feet.  The  Cape  pigeon  often  allowed 
itself  to  be  captured  on  its  nest.  The  eggs, 
which  are  pure  white,  are  laid  singly,  and  are 
very  large  for  the  size  of  the  bird. 

Besides  these  there  are  many  other  petrels 
recorded  in  Antarctic  seas,  and  perhaps  the  best 
known  of  these  is  the  Giant  petrel  (Ossifraga 
gigantea)  called  also  the  Nellie  and  the  Stinker. 
Why  sailors  should  have  called  this  bird  a 
"Nellie "  I  do  not  know,  but  the  name 
"Stinker"  is  quite  appropriate,  on  account  of 
the  curious,  unpleasant,  and  persistent  odour 
it  possesses.  Not  only  does  the  bird  have 
this  odour  externally,  but  even  its  flesh  and 
eggs  have  the  same  smell.  The  Scotia  dogs 
readily  ate  penguins  and  other  birds,  but 
would  not  eat  the  flesh  of  the  giant  petrel. 
The  weight  of  this  bird  varies  from  7%  to  10 
Ibs.,  and  it  looks  nearly  the  size  of  a  swan. 
The  plumage  varies  from  white,  through  grey, 


ANIMAL  LIFE  145 

to  almost  black.  These  varieties  appear  to 
interbreed.  The  nest  is  a  large  pile  of  sub- 
angular  stones,  in  the  form  of  a  truncated 
cone;  and  usually  only  one  large  white  egg 
is  laid.  The  nellie's  gluttonous  habits  are 
well  known  to  South  Sea  sailors  ;  feeding 
ravenously  on  the  remains  of  slaughtered  seals 
or  refuse,  and  filling  itself  to  repletion  till  it 
is  almost  comatose,  it  is  unable  to  rise  from 
the  ground  till  it  disgorges  the  contents  of  its 
stomach.  I  have  seen  these  filthy  birds,  feed- 
ing on  the  carcase  of  a  seal,  move  off  a  few  steps 
and  disgorge  what  they  had  devoured  and  then 
begin  to  eat  again. 

Although  a  shag  had  previously  been  noted 
in  the  Antarctic  Regions,  the  specific  identity 
of  these  Antarctic  shags  remained  somewhat 
uncertain  until  the  Scottish  Expedition  finally 
settled  the  matter  at  the  South  Orkneys,  in 
1903,  by  finding  it  was  the  Blue-eyed  shag 
(Phalacrocorax  atriceps). 

The  Dominican  gull  (Larus  dominicanus)  is 
not  very  plentiful  and  does  not  appear  to  cross 
the  circle.  The  Antarctic  skua  (Megalestris 
antarcticd)  and  MacCormack's  skua  (M.  mac- 
cormicki)  are  typical  Antarctic  birds  :  the 
former  is  very  plentiful  in  the  South  Orkneys 
and  other  less  southern  Antarctic  islands.  The 
latter  is  more  associated  with  higher  southern 
latitudes.  Antarctic  skuas  are  very  ferocious 


146  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

birds,  and  they  will  fight  with  each  other  to 
the  death. 

The  two  terns  are  the  White-rumped  tern 
(Sterna  hirundinacea) ,  which  breeds  plentifully 
on  Antarctic  islands,  and  the  Arctic  tern  (S. 
macrurd).  Mr.  Eagle  Clarke  is  of  opinion 
that  the  Arctic  tern  does  not  breed  in  the  Ant- 
arctic Regions,  but  that  it  is  a  summer  visitor 
during  the  Arctic  winter.  Mr.  Clarke  says, 
"The  finding  of  this  tern  in  the  seas  off  the 
South  Polar  continent  must  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  important  ornithological  dis- 
coveries made  by  the  Expedition  (Scotia),  for, 
as  has  already  been  stated,  no  terns  appear 
to  have  been  previously  captured  within  seas 
girdled  by  the  Antarctic  Circle." 

But  besides  whales,  seals,  and  birds,  Polar 
seas  teem  with  lowlier  forms  of  animal  life 
from  fishes  down  to  simple  unicellular  animals, 
and  it  is  all  this  vast  host  of  fishes  and  inverte- 
brates that  accounts  for  the  large  number  of 
mammals  and  birds  in  Polar  Regions — north 
and  south.  These  lowlier  and  mostly  smaller 
forms  of  animal  life  depend,  as  already  indicated, 
upon  the  meadows  and  pastures  of  the  oceans 
which  are  made  up  of  immense  quantities  of 
unicellular  algse.  Fishes  and  invertebrates  occur 
everywhere  in  Polar  seas,  from  the  surface 
down  to  depths  of  about  2,000  fathoms  in  the 
Arctic  Regions,  and  to  depths  exceeding  3,000 
fathoms  in  the  Antarctic  Regions. 


ANIMAL  LIFE  147 

It  would  be  entering  into  too  large  and  intri- 
cate a  subject,  and  too  technical  a  one,  to 
attempt  to  discuss  Polar  invertebrate  life  in 
the  present  volume.  It  is  also  dangerous  at 
the  present  time  to  formulate  general  state- 
ments regarding  the  distribution  and  general 
laws  which  regulate  this  host  of  living  beings, 
as  Polar  exploration  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy, 
as  far  as  serious  research  in  this  subject  is  con- 
cerned. Still  there  are  one  or  two  points  that 
may  already  be  gleaned  from  the  oceanographi- 
cal  research  of  several  of  the  recent  expeditions 
to  the  Arctic  and  Antarctic — notably  those 
of  Leigh  Smith,  Payer,  Nordenskjold,  the  Prince 
of  Monaco,  Duke  of  Orleans,  Nathorst  and 
others  in  the  north,  and  those  of  the  Challenger, 
Valdivia,  Belgica,  Scotia,  Discovery,  Gauss,  Fran- 
qais,  Antarctic  and  Pourquoi-pas  ?  in  the  south. 

One  forecast  of  importance  that  may  be 
made  is  regarding  the  theory  of  "Bipolarity," 
in  which  it  is  suggested  that  species  of  animals 
in  Arctic  seas  find,  as  it  were,  their  reflected 
images  represented  by  species  in  Antarctic 
seas. 

A  few  years  ago  the  case  was  doubtful.  But 
modern  Polar  exploration,  especially  in  Ant- 
arctic seas,  with  the  tendency  to  explore  more 
thoroughly  definite  areas,  by  vessels  carrying 
on  board  a  much  larger  number  and  more 
highly  trained  staffs  of  naturalists,  to  whom 


148  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

better  opportunities  are  being  given  to  carry 
out  their  special  work,  has  rather  revealed  the 
fact  that  such  similarities  which  could  support 
the  theory  of  bipolarity  do  not  occur.  Nay, 
even  this  interesting  fact  seems  to  be  brought 
out — that,  to  a  large  extent,  the  invertebrate 
fauna  that  inhabits  one  area  of  Antarctic  seas 
is  not  the  same  as  that  which  inhabits  another. 
The  invertebrate  animals  taken  by  the  Belgians 
and  the  French  to  the  west  of  Graham  Land 
are  markedly  different  in  many  respects  from 
those  taken  by  the  Scots  and  the  Swedes  to 
the  east  of  Graham  Land.  The  English  also 
obtained  in  the  Ross  Sea  different  species  from 
those  obtained  by  the  Scots  and  Swedes,  Bel- 
gians and  French,  or  Germans. 

Examination  of  the  results  of  the  deep-sea 
trawling  shows  that,  although  in  shallow  water 
quite  a  number  of  new  species  were  obtained, 
forming  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  whole 
number  of  animals  collected,  the  list  of  deep-sea 
species  shows  that  almost  every  animal  obtained 
in  deep  waters  and  in  high  southern  latitudes 
is  new  to  science.  These  facts  should  give  an 
indication  of  the  scientific  value  from  a  zo- 
ological point  of  view  of  deep-sea  exploration 
in  the  Antarctic  Regions.  Take  any  group 
whatever  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  greater 
portion  of  animals  obtained  in  deep  Antarctic 
waters  are  new  to  science. 

I 


ANIMAL  LIFE  149 

With  the  exception  of  that  great  Scottish 
navigator  and  explorer  Sir  James  Clark  Ross, 
who  led  the  way  to  deep-sea  exploration  with 
efforts  which  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  has  described 
as  almost  incredible,  and  who  was  the  first  and 
only  one  for  many  a  year  to  bring  back  examples 
of  deep-sea  animals  from  the  Antarctic  Regions, 
Polar  explorers  until  quite  recent  years  have 
not  considered  it  an  important  part  of  their 
programme  to  investigate  the  physics  and 
biology  of  Antarctic  seas. 

The  Challenger,  which  was  not  an  ice-pro- 
tected ship,  and  which  did  not  include  Ant- 
arctic exploration  as  part  of  its  programme, 
did,  nevertheless,  in  1874,  cross  the  Antarctic 
Circle,  and  made  one  trawling  in  1675  fathoms 
only  slightly  north  of  the  Circle,  and  made 
other  deep-sea  investigations  in  relatively  high 
latitudes.  The  Valdivia  also  carried  out  valuable 
oceanographical  researches  in  similar  latitudes 
a  little  further  west  than  the  Challenger.  But 
of  recent  Antarctic  expeditions  the  Belgica, 
Scotia,  Gauss,  Frangais,  and  Pourquoi-pas  ?  are 
the  only  ones  that  have  made  oceanographical 
research  a  special  aim.  The  Scotia,  besides 
being  strongly  fortified  to  battle  with  ice,  was 
better  equipped  as  an  oceanographical  ship 
than  any  Antarctic  ship  has  ever  been,  and 
was  thus  able  to  carry  out  most  important  in- 
vestigations in  very  deep  water  in  high  latitudes. 


150  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

In  the  scientific  work  carried  out  on  board 
the  Erebus,  Hooker  especially  supported  Ross, 
and  Sir  John  Richardson  in  his  report  on  "The 
Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  H.M.S.  Erebus  and 
Terror,"  says  the  warmest  thanks  of  zoologists 
"are  due  to  Dr.  Joseph  Dalton  Hooker  for  his 
able  co-operation  with  his  commanding  officer, 
and  for  the  excellent  sketches  and  notes  which 
he  has  contributed."  Hooker  was  the  sole 
worker  of  the  townet,  bringing  the  captures 
daily  to  Ross  and  helping  him  with  the  preser- 
vation of  marine  animals,  as  well  as  with  draw- 
ing a  great  number  of  these  animals  for  him. 
The  zoological  collections  of  that  expedition 
were  most  important  and  furnished  the  first 
evidence  that  a  rich  fauna  existed  in  Antarctic 
seas  at  all  depths  from  the  surface  to  the  bottom. 
The  deep-sea  exploration  of  the  Challenger 
in  relatively  high  southern  latitudes  furnished 
further  concrete  evidence  that  there  existed 
in  Antarctic  seas  a  very  rich  fauna  of  fishes 
and  invertebrates,  and  also  indicated  to  us 
that  great  results  might  be  obtained  by  an  ex- 
ploring ship  equipped  for  deep-sea  work  that 
was  also  fitted  out  for  doing  that  work  well 
within  the  Antarctic  ice-pack.  The  Valdivia 
in  1898  explored  as  far  south  as  64°  14'  S.  off 
Enderby  Land,  and  made  extensive  biological 
collections  especially  in  plankton. 

But  it  was  the  Belgica  in  1897-99  that  first 


ANIMAL  LIFE  151 

successfully  carried  out  marine  biological  in- 
vestigation well  within  the  Antarctic  Circle. 
During  a  cruise  and  remarkable  drift  south 
of  70°  S.  latitude  between  80°  and  102°  W. 
longitude,  as  well  as  during  her  more  easterly 
cruise  along  the  west  coast  of  Graham  Land, 
frequent  dredgings  were  made  which  resulted 
in  a  very  remarkable  collection  of  deep-sea 
marine  animals  being  secured.  Most  of  this 
collection  was  made  in  water  of  about  200  or 
250  fathoms  ;  but  north  of  70°  S.  a  few  dredg- 
ings were  made  in  depths  of  more  than  1,400 
fathoms.  The  reports  on  this  rich  collection 
of  Antarctic  marine  animals  are  now  nearly 
completed  in  a  large  series  of  valuable  volumes 
giving  an  account  of  the  scientific  results  of 
the  voyage.  Never  before  had  such  a  large 
collection  of  marine  animals  been  made  in  the 
Antarctic  Regions.  Fishes,  echinoderms,  crus- 
taceans, polychsets,  gorgonids,  bryozoa,  and, 
in  fact,  representatives  of  almost  every  order 
of  invertebrates,  were  obtained.  The  Gauss, 
Discovery,  and  Antarctic  (1901-04)  were  a  series 
of  expeditions  which  continued  the  exploration 
of  the  sea  in  relation  to  marine  animals,  but 
their  work  was  not  nearly  so  comprehensive 
in  this  direction  as  that  of  the  Belgica.  The 
Gauss  trawled  in  greater  depths,  but  not  nearly 
in  such  high  southern  latitudes.  The  work 
of  all  these  expeditions  has,  however,  added 


152  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

considerably  to  our  knowledge  of  Antarctic 
invertebrate  zoology,  and  not  least  of  all  the 
fine  work  done  by  Mr.  T.  V.  Hodgson,  who 
made  the  greatest  possible  use  of  every  oppor- 
tunity that  was  given  to  him.  To  Hodgson 
is  entirely  due  the  fine  invertebrate  records 
the  Discovery  brought  home. 

But  it  was  left  to  the  Scotia  to  carry  on  more 
extensively  than  any  other  Antarctic  expedi- 
tion has  ever  done  marine  biological  research, 
and  also  to  carry  on  that  research  in  very  deep 
water  well  south  of  the  Antarctic  Circle.  Al- 
together the  Scotia  dredged  150  times  in  water 
varying  between  4  and  161  fathoms,  and  had 
traps  down  on  250  days,  hauling  them  up 
and  rebaiting  them  200  times.  But  besides 
this,  the  Scotia  trawled  18  times  in  water  ex- 
ceeding 1,000  fathoms,  15  times  in  water 
exceeding  1,500  fathoms,  11  times  in  water 
exceeding  2,000  fathoms,  and  4  times  in  water  ex- 
ceeding 2,500  fathoms.  Most  of  these  trawlings 
were  taken  south  of  60°  S.,  whilst  navigating 
well  within  the  Polar  pack  and  among  bergs. 
On  account  of  the  constant  presence  of  ice  the 
greatest  possible  vigilance  and  care  was  re- 
quired in  handling  the  trawling  gear.  Some- 
times the  trawling  cable  would  catch  on  a  floe, 
which  would  add  several  tons  pressure  to  what 
the  cable  had  already  to  bear.  On  such  occa- 
sions the  great  mass  of  ice  might  be  carried  down 


ANIMAL  LIFE  153 

below  the  surface  to  quite  a  considerable  distance, 
until  something  destroyed  the  equal  balance 
that  held  it,  when  it  would  rapidly  rise  to  the 
surface  and  shoot  out  endwise  far  above  the 
water.  When  this  happened  the  ship  had  to 
be  handled  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  if  possible 
the  severe  shock  it  would  sustain  from  the  blow 
of  such  a  huge  piece  of  ice,  weighing  many 
tons  and  as  hard  as  rock.  But  even  when 
it  was  impossible  for  the  ship  to  escape  the 
blow,  it  was  of  vital  importance  to  handle  her 
in  such  a  way  that  the  rudder  and  propeller 
were  not  damaged  or  carried  away  by  the 
impact  of  the  ice.  This  was  the  first  time 
that  deep-sea  trawling  had  been  attempted 
in  the  ice-pack,  and  if  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances in  the  open  sea  great  care,  accuracy, 
and  considerable  practice  are  required  to  carry 
out  the  operation  successfully,  much  more 
so  was  that  the  case  on  the  present  occasion. 
The  Scotia  trawling  cable  was  capable  of  with- 
standing a  strain  of  more  than  nine  tons,  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion  the  dynamometer 
showed  a  strain  of  more  than  six  tons.  Every 
thousand  fathoms  of  the  trawling  cable  weighed 
a  ton,  and  on  several  occasions  the  Scotia  had 
as  much  as  4,000  fathoms,  i.e.  4|  miles,  of  cable 
paid  out.  It  can  be  understood,  therefore,  that 
the  operation  was  no  child's  play,  and  that 
the  40-horse-power  winch,  the  derrick,  the 


154  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

blocks  and  every  portion  of  the  working  gear 
had  to  be  in  as  perfect  condition  as  possible 
to  avoid  any  accident.  Yet,  in  spite  of  every 
precaution  in  the  course  of  this  arduous  work, 
more  than  once  the  lives  of  men  were  endan- 
gered. I  have  undertaken  arduous  sledging 
and  other  land  work  within  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  Regions,  but  I  know  of  no  work  that 
is  more  difficult  or  more  dangerous  than  trawl- 
ing in  the  greatest  depths  of  the  ocean  hi  a 
sea  closely  packed  with  ice.  The  great  increase 
of  strain  on  the  cable  when  it  is  caught  by  the 
ice,  which  is  unavoidable,  and  the  sudden  re- 
lease of  strain,  it  may  be  to  the  extent  of  even 
3  or  4  tons,  tells  to  the  utmost  on  all  the  gear, 
and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  something  may  give 
way  with  disastrous  results.  Such  accidents  are 
most  likely  to  happen  in  the  early  part  of  a 
voyage,  before  everybody  is  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  operation.  On  one  occasion  the  trawl- 
ing-cable  drum  on  the  Scotia,  containing  6,000 
fathoms  of  cable  weighing  over  six  tons,  "took 
charge,"  and  the  bo'sun  had  a  miraculous  escape, 
and  on  other  occasions  other  members  of  the 
expedition  had  their  lives  and  limbs  endangered. 
These  incidents  are  only  mentioned  here  to  let 
the  reader  understand  that  Polar  explorers 
carrying  on  their  researches  at  sea  encounter 
perils  at  least  as  great  as  those  making  long 
journeys  on  the  land. 


ANIMAL  LIFE  155 

During  the  winter  alone  in  the  South 
Orkneys,  in  Scotia  Bay  and  Jessie  Bay,  the 
Scottish  naturalists  caught  upwards  of  2,000 
fish,  which  served  not  only  for  zoological 
requirements,  but  also  as  an  excellent  supply 
of  fresh  food.  Besides  fishes,  examples  of 
almost  every  class  of  invertebrate  animals 
were  secured.  So  large  are  the  collections 
of  the  Scottish  Expedition  alone,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  do  more  than  refer  the  reader  to 
the  official  reports.  But  it  will  give  a  good 
idea  of  what  the  result  of  the  deep-sea  trawl- 
ing operations  were,  if  some  quotations  are 
given  from  these  volumes.  Here  is  one  from 
the  author's  own  log,  which  gives  some  idea  of 
a  day's  work  at  trawling,  as  well  as  of  a  zo- 
ological catch,  in  the  far  south,  and  in  tolerably 
deep  water.  "March  18th,  71°  22'  S.,  16' 
34'  W.  Barometer  falling  slightly,  29.206  to 
28.84  inches,  temperature  steady,  28°  to  29° 
F.  Wind,  gentle,  with  westerly  breezes  till 
8  a.m.,  N.E.  to  N.  afterwards.  Fine  clear 
though  overcast  weather,  with  occasional  light 
showers  of  snow.  We  sounded  from  6.45  a.m. 
to  8.15  a.m.,  in  1,410  fathoms,  and  took  five 
serial  temperatures  from  surface  to  the  bottom. 
The  trawl  with  2,400  fathoms  (  =  2%  miles)  of 
cable  out,  which  registered  a  strain  of  2|  tons, 
brought  up  one  of  the  two  richest  hauls  we 
have  had,  that  of  the  Burdwood  Bank  possibly 


156  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

equalling,  but  scarcely  surpassing  it — and  this 
one,  on  account  of  the  greater  depth  and  high 
southern  latitude  in  which  it  was  taken,  is 
certainly  by  far  the  most  important  we  have 
had.  Two  very  large-stalked  sponges,  both 
new  species  (Caulophacus  scotice  and  Malaco- 
saccus  coatsi),  besides  two  others,  three  or  four 
very  large  purple  holothurians,  a  quantity 
of  brilliant  red  Crustacea,  probably  Crangon, 
two  species  of  isopods,  five  or  six  chsetopods, 
three  or  four  gasteropods,  two  masked  with 
anemones, — a  large  number  of  very  hard  and 
large  sea-anemones  of  a  pale-greyish  and 
lavender  colour,  about  three  species  of  brittle 
stars,  five  species  of  fish  including  one  of  a 
beautiful  blue  and  delicate  grey-lavender  colour, 
and  one  of  which  we  only  secured  the  head, 
which  was  remarkable  for  its  crocodilian  ap- 
pearance, with  its  long  and  toothed  jaw, — 
some  ctenophores,  and  jelly-fish,  not  in  good 
condition, — bryozoa  and  probably  sertularians 
and  alcyonarians, — altogether  fully  sixty  species  ; 
specimens  which,  for  their  striking  variety  of 
colour  and  form  as  well  as  from  their  large  num- 
ber, could  not  fail  to  strike  the  most  casual  and 
least  interested  individual.  Yet  ignorant  people 
tell  you  there  is  no  life  in  the  Antarctic  !" 

As  an  example  of  disappointment  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  on  the  following  day,  in  a 
depth  of  1,221  fathoms,  the  trawl  was  lowered, 


ANIMAL  LIFE  157 

putting  out  2,000  fathoms  (=2%  miles)  of 
cable,  but  it  did  not  touch  the  bottom,  and 
this  occurred  more  than  once  in  this  locality. 
The  only  way  that  this  could  be  accounted 
for  was  that  there  were  strong  under-currents 
sweeping  the  trawl  off  the  ground  ;  for  during 
the  previous  year,  in  about  2,500  fathoms, 
bottom  was  reached  with  3,100  fathoms  of 
cable,  or  only  600  fathoms  extra  beyond  the 
depth,  instead  of  800  as  on  this  occasion. 

On  the  21st  of  March,  however,  in  lat.  69° 
33'  S.,  15°  19'  W.,  the  Scotia  secured  a  good 
haul  in  2,620  l  fathoms  ( =  3  miles)  on  a  bottom 
of  blue  mud.  In  order  to  make  sure  of  the 
trawl  reaching  the  bottom,  we  fixed  four  furnace 
bars,  each  weighing  22  Ibs.,  and  two  olive- 
shaped  weights  on  the  cable,  each  of  20  Ibs. 
An  extra  1,000  fathoms  of  cable  were  let  out, 
that  is  to  say,  3,620  fathoms  (4|  miles)  in  all. 
The  trawl  began  going  out  at  10.15  a.m.,  and 
was  on  board  again  at  6.33  p.m.  ;  this  time 
there  had  been  about  500  fathoms  of  cable 
on  the  bottom,  showing  that  we  could  have 
done  on  this  occasion  with  our  usual  allowance 
of  500  or  600  extra  fathoms.  The  dynamometer 
registered  up  to  5  tons.  The  trawl  came  up 
with  a  great  deal  of  mud  and  many  big  stones, 

1  At  2,620  fathoms  there  is  a  pressure  on  any  object  of 
about  H\  tons  per  square  inch,  reckoning  1  ton  per  1,000 
fathoms. 


158  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

and  the  following  animals  : — one  fish,  a  siphono- 
phore  tentacle  about  600  fathoms  from  the 
end  of  the  cable,  arenaceous  worm  tubes,  two 
species  of  asteroids,  one  species  of  ophiuroid, 
four  species  of  holothurians,  broken  bits  of 
echinoids,  a  medusoid,  probably  from  the  sur- 
face, two  species  of  fixed  stalked  colonial  ccelen- 
terates,  two  species  of  sponges,  and  some  species 
of  foraminifers  (Zoological  Log  of  the  "Scotia," 
Edinburgh,  1908). 

Besides  trawling  on  the  bottom,  the  Scottish 
Expedition  used  other  means  of  catching  animals 
living  in  Antarctic  seas.  They  followed  the 
excellent  practice  of  the  Prince  of  Monaco  by 
using  large  baited  traps,  resembling  in  prin- 
ciple the  common  lobster  pot  or  creel,  extensively 
employed  by  fishermen  of  Scotland  and  other 
countries.  These  traps  consist  of  a  light  frame- 
work of  wood  covered  with  herring-net,  with 
two  funnel-shaped  entrances  placed  in  suitable 
positions  through  which  fishes  and  other  creat- 
ures swim  or  crawl  into  the  trap,  and  being 
unable  to  find  their  way  out  again  are  captured. 
This  valuable  form  of  apparatus  was  first  used 
in  the  Polar  Regions  by  the  author  in  1896, 
in  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  since  that  time  has 
been  used  by  many  Polar  expeditions  with 
success — notably  by  the  Prince  of  Monaco 
himself  in  Spitsbergen  Seas  ;  and  in  the  Ross 
Sea  by  Hodgson,  following  the  advice  of  Armi- 


ANIMAL  LIFE  159 

tage  and  Koettlitz,  both  of  whom  had  seen  it 
used  with  such  success  in  Franz  Josef  Land. 
During  the  wintering  of  the  Scotia,  these  traps 
were  used  extensively,  several  of  them  being 
put  out  in  different  depths  and  at  varying  dis- 
tances from  the  ship.  The  Scotia  also  used 
these  traps  in  a  depth  of  161  fathoms  off  Coats 
Land. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  use 
of  fine  silk  tow-nets,  which  were  used  to  get 
samples  of  diatoms  and  other  algse  drifting 
about  on  the  surface  of  the  water.  These  nets, 
while  doing  their  botanical  scouting,  also  gather 
small  marine  invertebrates  drifting  or  swim- 
ming freely  on  or  near  the  surface  of  the  sea. 
This  "plankton"  investigation  forms  one  of 
the  most  interesting  forms  of  Polar  exploration, 
and  the  Belgica,  the  Gauss,  and  the  Scotia  all 
carried  out  extensive  investigations  in  this 
direction  in  Antarctic  seas  with  very  important 
and  interesting  results.  But  besides  using  such 
nets  on  the  surface,  the  Polar  explorer  uses 
them,  like  other  explorers  of  the  sea  in  other 
parts  of  the  world,  for  ascertaining  what  creat- 
ures are  drifting  or  swimming  in  intermediate 
depths  between  the  surface  and  the  bottom. 

The  nets  used  for  this  purpose  are  of 
various  sizes  and  shapes,  the  smallest  may  be 
two  inches  in  diameter,  the  largest  many  feet: 
the  Prince  of  Monaco  uses  a  vertical  plankton 


160  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

net  15  or  16  feet  in  diameter  ;  the  largest  net 
the  Scotia  used  was  eight  feet  in  diameter. 
The  most  generally  useful  size  and  that  most 
frequently  employed  was,  however,  one  of 
four  inches  diameter,  and  three  feet  in  length, 
made  of  the  finest  Miller's  silk,  which  catches 
almost  all  the  minutest  forms  except  possibly 
cocospheres  and  rhabdospheres.  (The  finest 
Miller's  silk,  known  as  No.  20,  has  5,926  meshes 
to  a  square  centimetre  :  each  side  of  the  mesh 
is  0.05  mm.  long.)  The  larger  nets  are  made 
of  coarse  muslin.  Among  the  various  designs 
of  these  plankton  nets  some  are  devised  to  open 
and  close  at  definite  depths,  so  that  a  definite 
stratum  of  the  sea  may  be  explored  to  see  what 
animals  live  there  ;  others  are  so  constructed 
as  to  enable  an  approximate  estimate  to  be 
made  of  the  number,  as  well  as  of  the  species, 
of  animals  that  live  in  a  certain  volume  of  water. 
All  these  different  kinds  of  nets  were  exten- 
sively used  on  board  the  Belgica,  Gauss,  Scotia, 
Francois,  and  Pourquoi-pas  ?  and  less  exten- 
sively on  other  recent  Antarctic  exploring  ships. 
The  Discovery  and  Nimrod  did  not  use  these 
nets  or  other  marine  biological  apparatus  so 
extensively,  because  their  explorations  were 
more  specially  on  the  land  rather  than  the  sea. 
The  Scotia  used  an  8-foot  vertical  net  as  far 
south  as  71°  50'  S.,  23°  10'  E.,  lowering  it  there 
to  1,000  fathoms  below  the  surface.  The  hand- 


ANIMAL  LIFE  161 

ling  of  these  delicate  nets  within  the  pack  is 
by  no  means  easy,  and  cannot  very  often  be 
carried  out.  Through  a  hole  in  a  continuous 
field  of  ice,  such  a  net  can  be  lowered  with  rela- 
tive safety,  but  in  the  drifting  pack  it  may  be 
very  difficult  and  often  quite  impossible.  The 
successful  accomplishment  of  this  delicate  op- 
eration by  the  Scotia  demonstrates  to  what 
a  state  of  proficiency  the  officers,  staff,  and 
crew  had  attained  in  the  handling  of  this  and 
other  deep-sea  gear,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  deep 
regret  that  such  a  ship,  on  which  so  much 
thought,  ingenuity,  and  money  had  been  ex- 
pended, had  to  be  sold  for  "an  old  song,"  and 
such  a  set  of  men,  who  had  come  to  know  how 
to  carry  on  not  only  such  important  deep-sea 
exploration,  but  to  pursue  it  in  high  latitudes 
within  the  pack  ice,  had  to  part  once  more,  to 
scatter  all  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  never  again 
to  meet  together  to  carry  on  such  important 
work  for  the  advancement  of  science,  which 
is  always  for  the  good  of  mankind. 

The  handling  of  a  trawl  among  the  pack 
is  difficult,  even  dangerous,  on  account  of  the 
heaviness  of  the  gear  and  the  great  and  often 
sudden  strains  that  occur.  With  the  large 
fine  tow-nets  there  is  no  danger,  but  the  ap- 
paratus— winch,  wire,  and  net  itself — are  all 
of  such  a  light  description  that,  if  the  wire  or 
net  gets  entangled  on  pieces  of  pack  ice,  they 


162  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

are  apt  to  get  damaged  or  carried  away.  Con- 
sequently the  greatest  vigilance  has  to  be  used  : 
long  poles  have  to  be  in  readiness  to  push  the 
heavier  pieces  of  ice  away  from  the  place  where 
the  net  is  expected  to  come  to  the  surface  by 
the  people  on  the  ship  and  on  the  ice  itself. 
The  winch-man  has  constantly  to  be  on  the 
alert  to  "heave  gently!"  "stop!"  "heave 
gently  !"  or  what  always  produces  such  a 
cheery  effect,  "heave  away!"  Nothing  is  more 
exciting,  nothing  more  intensely  interesting  than 
to  hear  the  merry  winch  under  perfect  control 
heaving  in  the  vertical  net,  or  the  trawl  cul- 
minating in  the  final  act  of  "taking  it  aboard." 
Reaching  the  South  Pole  isn't  in  it  !  At  the 
beginning  of  such  a  voyage  of  exploration  there 
are  apt  to  be  smiles  at  the  eager  zoologist 
emerging  pale  from  his  laboratory,  but  after 
the  first  time  the  trawl  comes  on  board  with 
its  wonderful  burden  of  living  things  of  every 
colour  and  shape,  each  more  quaint  or  beautiful 
than  its  neighbour,  everybody  on  board  becomes 
almost  as  enthusiastic  as  the  zoologist  who, 
now  that  he  has  got  his  sea-legs,  feels  himself 
more  on  an  equal  footing  with  his  breezy  sea- 
man companions. 

Off  Coats  Land,  the  highest  southern  lati- 
tude in  which  a  vertical  net  has  been  success- 
fully used,  it  is  recorded  by  Wilton  in  the 
Zoological  Log  of  the  "Scotia,"  Lthat  the  haul 


ANIMAL  LIFE  163 

was  a  rich  one,  containing  five  species  of  fishes, 
and  at  least  fifteen  species  of  other  animals, 
including  "several  examples  of  Salpa,  four 
species  of  crustaceans,  many  specimens  of  Sagitta, 
several  ctenophores,  four  species  of  medusoids, 
and  some  broken  pieces  of  a  jelly-fish."  The 
examination  of  these  specimens  found  in  the 
vertical  net  on  this  occasion  is  a  very  useful 
indication  to  the  reader  of  what  "drifting  life," 
or  plankton,  is  in  Antarctic  seas,  and  one  wonders 
at  the  delicate  nature  of  most  of  the  forms 
captured  in  these  waters,  which  are  at  or  about 
the  freezing-point  of  fresh  water,  and  often 
considerably  below,  especially  when  one  knows 
that  a  considerable  number  of  these  forms 
must  have  been  taken  near  the  surface,  where 
the  ice-pack  grinds  and  crushes  in  all  its  fury 
during  violent  storms. 

So  much  for  the  zoology  of  Antarctic  seas. 
One  thing  is  perfectly  clear,  and  that  is  that 
there  is  an  immense  field  for  most  interesting 
exploration  of  the  most  useful  kind  open  to 
those  who  wish  to  explore  in  the  South  Polar 
Regions.  There  is  no  form  of  exploration 
more  fascinating  and  more  important  than 
oceanography — physical  and  biological — in  any 
part  of  the  world,  and  in  no  region  is  it  more 
interesting  and  important  to  carry  on  these 
investigations  than  in  the  seas  round  about 
the  South  Pole.  Interesting  as  is  the  explora- 


164  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

tion    of    Antarctic    lands,    the    exploration  of 
Antarctic  seas  is  not  less  so. 

Neither  is  the  exploration  of  these  seas  ac- 
companied by  fewer  privations,  difficulties,  and 
dangers.  In  recent  years  no  one  has  had  a 
more  exciting  or  adventuresome  experience  than 
Captain  Adrien  de  Gerlache,  during  that 
remarkable  drift  in  the  South  Polar  pack  for 
nearly  a  whole  year,  when  human  beings  for 
the  first  time  spent  a  winter  in  the  Antarctic 
Regions.  The  adventures  of  the  relief  party 
of  the  Swedish  Expedition  are  unsurpassed 
in  the  history  of  Polar  exploration.  Caught 
in  the  pack,  their  ship,  the  Antarctic,  was  crushed 
like  a  match-box,  and  left  them  stranded  on 
the  pack  many  miles  from  land.  With  almost 
superhuman  effort  they  reached  the  land,  but 
cut  off  from  two  men  they  had  landed  at  another 
place  with  a  tent  and  a  few  days'  provisions, 
and  without  having  been  in  sight  of  the  main 
encampment  that  they  were  to  relieve.  It 
was  about  twelve  months  before  these  three 
parties  were  to  meet  together,  and,  wonderful 
to  relate,  they  and  the  Argentine  relief  ship 
Uruguay  all  met  within  a  few  hours  of  each 
other.  Lastly,  the  world  has  learnt  of  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  that  the  gallant  French 
explorers  had  under  the  able  leadership  of  Dr. 
Jean  Charcot,  who  hammered  out  the  Western 
record  to  124°  W.  along  the  70th  degree  of  south 


ANIMAL  LIFE  165 

latitude,  knowing  that  the  ship's  keel  and  plank- 
ing had  been  ripped  off  on  the  rocks  of  the  west 
coast  of  Graham  Land  (Le  Pourquoi-pas  ?  dans 
V antar clique,  by  Dr.  Jean  Charcot:  Paris,  1910). 
The  biology  of  Antarctic  seas  is  perhaps 
more  interesting  and  important  than  that  of 
Arctic  seas  for  reasons  which  will  be  afterwards 
considered.  Although  a  great  deal  of  zoological 
research  has  been  carried  out  in  the  Arctic 
seas  from  time  to  time,  that  research  had  been 
much  less  systematic  than  in  the  Antarctic 
Regions,  because  in  the  Arctic  Regions  it  began 
before  zoology  was  organised  as  it  is  now. 
At  a  period  when  practically  no  research  was 
being  carried  out  in  Antarctic  seas,  many  of 
the  earliest  writers  have  given  descriptions 
of  northern  invertebrates.  Martens,  for  in- 
stance, gave  excellent  descriptions  of  the  animals 
he  saw  in  Spitsbergen,  both  on  the  land  and  in 
the  sea,  during  his  voyage  in  1671.  Not  only 
his  text,  but  his  excellent  drawings  show  what 
an  accurate  and  close  observer  he  was  :  he  has 
fair  pictures  of  seals  and  walruses,  remarkably 
good  drawings  of  the  Greenland  whale,  and 
a  number  of  interesting  ones  of  invertebrates 
such  as  Gorgonocephalus,  two  other  ophiuroids, 
a  Capretta,  two  medusoids,  also  the  well-known 
pteropod  (Clio  borealis),  all  of  which  can  easily 
be  identified.  After  Martens,  there  are  no 
very  accurate  descriptions  of  Arctic  marine 


166  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

invertebrates  until  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  At  this  time  Scoresby  was 
one  of  the  best  observers.  The  first  man  to 
give  us  a  concrete  idea  of  animals  that  lived 
in  the  deep  Arctic  waters  was  Sir  John  Ross, 
who  initiated  his  nephew,  James  Clark  Ross, 
in  that  work  which,  as  already  mentioned, 
he  afterwards  carried  out  successfully  in  Ant- 
arctic seas.  Baron  Nordenskjold  did  $  really 
good  systematic  marine  zoological  work  ;  and 
after  him  Payer  and  Weyprecht,  during  the 
German  Expedition  of  1870  to  East  Greenland 
and  the  Austrian  Expedition  of  1874  to  Franz 
Josef  Land.  In  1897  the  author  brought  home 
large  zoological  collections  from  Franz  Josef 
Land.  Major  Andrew  Coats'  expedition  to 
the  Barents  Sea  and  the  Prince  of  Monaco  in 
Spitsbergen  seas  in  1898  also  carried  out  im- 
portant marine  biological  research.  During  that 
year  and  in  1899,  1906,  and  1907  the  Prince 
of  Monaco  and  Dr.  Jules  Richard  trawled, 
trapped,  and  tow-netted  several  times  in  high 
latitudes  and  deep  water  in  the  Greenland  Sea. 
Since  1898  many  others,  including  the  Duke 
of  Orleans, '  Nathorst,  and  Amundsen  have 
done  similar  work,  so  that  altogether  we  have 
a  very  considerable  knowledge  of  the  fishes 
and  invertebrates  of  the  Greenland,  Spitsbergen, 
and  Barents  Seas,  as  well  as  those  of  Davis 
Strait  and  some  of  its  sounds. 


ANIMAL  LIFE  167 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Arctic,  like 
the  Antarctic,  marine  fauna  is  the  enormous 
number  of  individuals  of  certain  species, 
specially  some  of  the  amphipods,  copepods, 
and  echinoderms.  Two  species  of  amphipods 
(Anonyx  nugax  and  Onissimus  edwardsii) 
swarm  in  such  quantities  in  Arctic  seas  that 
the  carcase  of  a  large  bird  will  be  entirely 
cleared  of  soft  parts  by  them,  and  a  well- 
cleaned  skeleton  is  left  in  twenty-four  hours. 
Such  a  tough  morsel  as  a  bear's  skull,  if  lowered 
into  water  of  10  or  20  fathoms,  will  be  beau- 
tifully cleaned  in  the  matter  of  a  few  days. 
Naturalists  have  often  resorted  to  this  method 
to  help  them  in  their  work. 

In  a  depth  of  197  fathoms  at  the  entrance 
of  Ice  Fiord,  Spitsbergen,  the  Prince  of  Monaco 
obtained  in  a  trap  no  less  than  forty  pounds 
of  large,  red  prawns  (Pandalus  borealis),  alto- 
gether 1,775  specimens  ;  not  only  were  these 
prawns  interesting  zoologically,  but  they  were 
found  to  be  an  excellently  delicate  food,  and 
were  used  on  board  for  that  purpose.  A  sea- 
urchin  (Strongylocentrotus  dro&bachiensis)  is  enor- 
mously plentiful,  and  so  are  some  species  of 
brittle-stars.  The  water  teems  with  pteropods, 
especially  Clio  borealis,  the  food  of  the  Green- 
land whale,  and  arrow-worms  (Sagitta,  with  their 
transparent  houses.  In  the  Barents  Sea  I 
have  gathered  a  pound  or  more  of  small  co- 


168  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

pepods  (Calanus  finmarhicus)  in  my  tow-net  in 
the  space  of  a  few  minutes.  These  enormous 
swarms  of  animal  life  form  the  basal  food  supply 
of  the  myriads  of  birds,  and  herds  of  seals  and 
walrus,  and  the  numerous  whales.  And  it  should 
always  be  remembered  that  man  himself,  when 
the  worst  comes  to  the  worst,  can  find  abundant 
food  in  the  small  crustaceans  of  the  sea,  if  he 
has  any  means  of  catching  them. 

Though  collecting  animals  and  plants  that 
live  in  Polar  seas,  and  enumerating  species 
is  of  great  interest,  much  more  than  that  is 
required  of  the  modern  biologist.  He  must 
try  to  find  out  what  is  the  reason  of  there  being 
certain  species  in  Polar  seas,  of  there  being  such 
enormous  numbers  of  certain  species,  and  the 
relationship  which  this  marine  life  has  to  marine 
life  in  other  seas.  It  is  of  immense  interest 
when  we  discover  facts  regarding  life  in  Polar 
seas  that  have  a  distinct  bearing  on  human 
economy.  A  beginning  of  such  discoveries  has 
already  been  made,  although  we  still  see  "as 
through  a  glass  darkly." 


CHAPTER  VII 

PHYSICS  OF  THE  POLAR  SEAS 

THE  first  step  in  marine  biological  investi- 
gations, whether  in  the  Polar  sea  or  elsewhere, 
is  the  study  of  the  physical  conditions  under 
which  the  marine  forms  of  animals  and  plants 
live,  and  correlation  of  these  observations  in 
various  seas.  Hence  the  study  of  the  physics 
of  the  oceans  as  a  whole  is  most  important,  and 
it  becomes  the  duty  of  a  Polar  explorer  to  carry 
on  that  research  in  the  Polar  seas.  The  first 
essential  in  any  form  of  oceanic  research,  after 
knowing  one's  position  on  the  earth's  surface, 
is  to  know  the  depth,  and  if  this  has  not  already 
been  determined  one  must  take  a  "sound- 
ing." To  be  able  to  sound  accurately  in  all 
depths  is  the  first  accomplishment  of  the  prac- 
tical oceanographer.  In  the  Arctic  Regions 
bathymetrical  survey  has  been  of  the  most 
irregular  and  piecemeal  character,  although  on 
the  whole  we  have  now  a  fairly  complete  knowl- 
edge of  the  conformation  of  the  floor  of  the 
North  Polar  Basin  and  the  seas  adjacent.  Most 
of  these  soundings  have  been  secured  in  the 
course  of  ordinary  navigation,  but  Sir  John 
169 


170  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Ross  and  his  nephew  took  a  number  of 
soundings  in  a  thoroughly  systematic  way. 
During  recent  years  we  have  a  good  line  of 
soundings  across  the  Polar  Basin  taken  by 
Nansen  and  Sverdrup  during  the  drift  of  the 
Fram.  The  author  took  a  large  number  of 
soundings  during  1896,  1897  and  1898,  on  board 
the  Windward  and  on  board  Major  Andrew 
Coats'  yacht  Blencathra  in  the  Barents  Sea, 
from  the  shores  of  Europe  to  Novaya  Zemlya 
and  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  between  Hope  Island 
and  Spitsbergen  almost  up  to  Wiche  Islands. 
The  Prince  of  Monaco  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
have  made  series  of  interesting  and  important 
soundings  between  Spitsbergen  and  Greenland 
as  far  as  81°  N.,  while  Baron  Nordenskjold, 
Leigh  Smith  and  Makarof  have  sounded  to  the 
north  of  Spitsbergen.  Amundsen,  Sverdrup  and 
others  have  taken  soundings  in  the  straits  and 
sounds  of  the  islands  of  the  Canadian  Arctic 
Archipelago.  The  most  important  work  done 
by  Peary  during  his  last  expedition  was  a 
series  of  soundings  along  his  route  to  the 
North  Pole  which  indicated  more  or  less 
the  conformation  of  the  Polar  Basin  accord- 
ing to  ideas  established  largely  by  Nansen's 
soundings.  But  it  is  most  unfortunate  that 
in  the  most  important  of  these  soundings 
Peary  did  not  actually  touch  bottom.  It 
would  have  been  of  more  interest  than  any 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         171 

other  observation  that  this  Polar  enthusiast 
could  have  taken  at  the  North  Pole,  had  his 
lead  touched  bottom,  and  had  he  brought  back 
a  sample  of  the  deposit  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  at  the  Pole  itself. 

In  the  Antarctic  Regions  there  has  been 
a  much  more  systematic  bathymetrical  survey, 
because,  with  the  exception  of  Ross,  practically 
no  soundings  were  taken  until  the  Challenger 
sounded  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Antarctic  Circle 
off  Termination  Land.  Before  Ross,  the  early 
South  Sea  voyagers  had  no  conception  of  deep- 
sea  soundings.  Weddell  sounded  in  71°  25'  S. 
"The  water  again  being  discoloured,"  says 
Weddell  (A  Voyage  towards  the  South  Pole, 
1827),  "we  sounded  with  240  fathoms  of  line, 
but  got  no  bottom,  though  I  am  of  opinion  it 
would  have  been  obtained  at  a  greater  length 
of  line  ;  but  as  we  had  no  more,  nor  a  lead 
sufficiently  heavy,  we  could  not  be  so  experi- 
mental as  I  wished."  According  to  the  Scotia 
soundings  there  was  a  depth  here  of  about 
2,000  fathoms,  and  no  doubt  Weddell  little 
guessed  how  much  "greater  length  of  line" 
he  would  have  required  to  touch  bottom.  All 
the  recent  Antarctic  expeditions  have  taken 
soundings  in  Antarctic  and  subantarctic  seas, 
but  by  far  the  most  important  series  taken 
are  those  of  the  Scotia.  Altogether  the  Scotia 
took  seventy-five  deep  soundings  in  the  South 


172  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Atlantic  Ocean,  and  Weddell  and  Biscoe  Seas, 
besides  nearly  five  hundred  soundings  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  South  Orkneys  in  water 
of  less  than  100  fathoms.  Twenty -six  of  the 
seventy-five  deep-sea  soundings  were  taken  south 
of  the  Antarctic  Circle,  and  fifty  were  taken 
whilst  navigating  actually  in  the  pack  ice  ; 
forty-three  were  taken  in  water  exceeding 
2,000  fathoms,  twenty-three  in  water  exceeding 
2,500 — ten  of  the  last  being  south  of  the  Ant- 
arctic Circle.  The  deepest  sounding  was  2,900 
fathoms,  or  a  depth  of  three  miles  and  a  quarter, 
in  39°  27'  S.,  5°  17'  E.,  between  Gough  Island 
and  Cape  Town. 

The  Valdivia  carried  out  an  important  bathy- 
metrical  survey  to  the  south-east  of  South 
Africa  and  the  Challenger  and  the  Gauss  farther 
to  the  eastward.  The  Belgica  and  Pourquoi- 
pas  ?  took  a  number  of  soundings  from  Graham 
Land  to  124°  W.  between  69°  and  71°  S.,  which 
are  of  great  importance,  most  of  them  being 
between  200  and  300  fathoms  and  indicative 
of  the  presence  of  continental  land  not  very 
far  to  the  south  in  these  longitudes.  The  great 
interest  of  the  Scotia  soundings,  along  with  the 
discovery  of  Coats  Land,  was  to  give  an  entirely 
new  idea  of  the  southward  extension  of  the 
Weddell  Sea,  and  to  alter  previous  ideas  of 
the  depths  of  that  sea  which  were  all  based 
on  a  very  deep  sounding  taken  by  Ross  in  68° 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         173 

32'  S.,  12°  49'  W.,  which  was  believed  by  him 
to  be  "4,000  fathoms  no  bottom,"  but  which 
was  proved  by  the  Scotia  to  be  2,660  fathoms, 
the  Buchanan  sounder  bringing  up  "blue  mud." 
Ross's  error  was  due  to  the  very  primitive 
gear  he  had  on  board  for  so  great  a  depth. 
Instead  of  working  with  a  compact  machine 
from  the  ship  itself,  and  having  the  valuable 
assistance  of  steam,  and  instead  of  working 
with  apparatus  that  has  taken  sixty  years 
to  bring  to  its  present  state  of  perfection,  this 
old  veteran  and  pioneer  of  deep-sea  exploration 
did  wonderful  work  with  very  rude  apparatus 
and  gave  us  much  information  about  ocean 
depths  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  Ross  did 
all  his  sounding  from  boats  lowered  for  the 
purpose,  and  his  hemp  line  was  laboriously 
hauled  in  by  hand  on  large  cumbersome  drums 
by  his  crew.  This  example  of  patience  and 
endurance  deserves  all  praise,  and  it  would  be 
well  if  it  were  followed  in  these  days.  Ross's 
line  evidently  sagged,  after  the  weights  had 
touched  the  bottom — if  they  touched  at  all — 
the  line  being  carried  away  by  the  strong  cur- 
rents that  exist  in  that  region,  currents  which 
prevented  the  Scotia  trawl  from  reaching  bottom 
on  three  occasions  in  spite  of  extra  weights 
being  attached  and  a  large  amount  of  extra 
cable  being  paid  out. 

A  theory  has  been  advanced  by  Dr.  H.  O. 


174  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Forbes  (Supplementary  Papers,  Royal  Geographi- 
cal Society,  1893}  that  there  existed  at  one 
time  a  land  connection  between  New  Zealand 
and  Eastern  Australia  by  way  of  the  Chatham 
Islands  and  Antarctica,  and  also  that  there 
had  been  a  connection  between  Madagascar 
and  South  America  and  Antarctica.  The  sound- 
ings of  the  Scotia  substantially  support  the 
latter  part  of  Forbes'  theory  by  showing  the 
existence  of  a  long  ridge  or  "Rise"  (a  "rise" 
is  a  ridge  rising  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean 
to  within  2,000  fathoms  of  the  surface),  about 
300  miles  in  breadth,  extending  in  a  curve  from 
Madagascar  to  Bouvet  Island,  and  from  Bouvet 
Island  to  the  Sandwich  Group,  where  there  is 
a  forked  connection  through  the  South  Orkneys 
to  Graham  Land,  and  through  South  Georgia 
to  the  Falkland  Islands  and  the  South  Ameri- 
can continent.  Thus  Antarctica,  South 
America  and  Madagascar,  and  probably  South 
Africa,  become  connected  with  one  another 
in  a  most  direct  manner  by  this  "rise."  As 
Dr.  Pirie  has  pointed  out,  the  existence  of  sedi- 
mentary rocks  in  the  South  Orkneys,  as  well 
as  in  South  Georgia,  points  to  a  much  greater 
extension  of  land  to  the  southeast  of  South 
America  in  former  times.  The  Scottish  Expe- 
dition made  another  great  discovery,  namely, 
that  the  "Mid-Atlantic  Rise"  extended  1,000 
miles  farther  south  than  was  previously  sup- 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         175 

posed,  and  that  in  all  probability  it  connected 
at  its  southern  extremity  with  the  rise  between 
Bouvet  Island  and  the  South  Orkneys  and 
South  Georgia.  This  extension  of  the  Mid- 
Atlantic  Rise  is  now  known  as  the  "Scotia  Rise." 

These  investigations  tend  to  show  a  separa- 
tion between  the  "deeps"  ("deeps"  are  those 
parts  of  the  oceans  which  are  deeper  than  3,000 
fathoms)  discovered  by  the  Valdivia  lying  to 
the  south-east  of  Bouvet  Island,  which  may 
be  suitably  known  as  the  "Ross  Deep,"  and 
the  deep  lying  to  the  south-west  of  South  Africa, 
as  well  as  that  deep  lying  to  the  north  of  South 
Georgia  and  to  the  east  of  Argentina  ;  all  these 
"deeps"  are  separated  from  one  another  by 
"rises"  of  less  than  2,000  fathoms. 

The  work  of  the  Challenger,  Valdivia,  Gauss 
and  Scotia  in  the  South  Atlantic  and  South 
Indian  Oceans  has  given  us  a  clue  to  the  possi- 
ble connections  between  Africa,  South  America 
and  Antarctica,  and  now  it  is  of  great  interest 
and  importance  to  get  more  soundings  to  the 
south  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  to  show 
more  exactly  what  the  conformation  of  the 
floor  of  the  ocean  is  in  those  longitudes.  That 
is  one  of  the  most  important  investigations  for 
future  Antarctic  exploring  ships  to  carry  out. 

The  bathymetry  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  is  simple 
compared  with  that  of  the  Antarctic  Ocean, 
and  consists  of  a  basin  almost  completely  sur- 


176  POLAR   EXPLORATION 

rounded  by  land,  which  does  not  appear  to  be 
anywhere  much  deeper  than  2,000  fathoms, 
the  three  deepest  soundings  taken  by  Nansen 
and  Sverdrup  being  2,195  fathoms,  2,102 
fathoms,  and  2,020  fathoms.  Unfortunately, 
in  the  three  soundings  these  explorers  took 
between  15°  E.  and  70°  E.,  including  the  farthest 
north  one,  they  did  not  succeed  in  reaching  the 
bottom,  these  three  soundings  being  "1,638 
fathoms  no  bottom."  Within  five  geographical 
miles  of  the  Pole  Admiral  Peary  obtained  a 
sounding  of  "  1,500  fathoms  no  bottom."  Where 
the  North  Polar  Basin  is  not  bounded  by  land, 
as  at  the  Behring  Straits  and  between  Spits- 
bergen and  Greenland,  it  is  bounded  by  ridges 
of  considerably  less  than  2,000  fathoms  in  depth. 
The  researches  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  the 
Mylius  Erichsen  Danish  Expedition  tend  to 
show  that  a  ridge  covered  by  quite  a  small 
depth  of  water  exists  between  Spitsbergen  and 
Greenland. 

A  proper  conception  of  the  bathymetry  of 
Polar  seas  is  necessary  for  an  adequate  dis- 
cussion of  physical  problems  connected  with 
the  temperature,  salinity,  specific  gravity  and 
circulation,  and  the  effect  of  wind,  air-tempera- 
ture and  other  phenomena  that  affect  these 
seas.  The  physical  problems  of  ice-covered 
seas  are  much  more  complicated  than  in  seas 
where  there  is  no  ice,  because,  as  we  have  seen 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS    177 

previously,  when  the  surface  of  the  sea  is  being 
frozen  over,  the  salt  in  that  part  of  the  water 
which  is  changed  into  ice  is  thrown  out  and 
must  therefore  make  the  neighbouring  water 
more  saline  ;  on  the  other  hand,  when  that 
ice  melts  during  the  following  summer  it  adds 
a  considerable  amount  of  fresh  water  to  the 
sea  in  its  neighbourhood. 

The  salter  water  would  naturally  have  a 
higher  specific  gravity  than  the  fresher  water 
but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  fresher  water 
produced  from  melting  ice  may,  by  virtue  of 
its  being  colder  than  the  neighbouring  more 
saline  water,  actually  have  a  higher  specific 
gravity.  The  presence  of  icebergs,  which  in 
the  south  are  of  enormous  size  and  very  nu- 
merous, and  which  even  in  the  north  are  very 
numerous  in  certain  districts,  must  produce  an 
enormous  amount  of  fresh  water  during  the 
summer  and  quite  sufficient  to  affect  the 
salinity  of  the  sea  where  they  occur.  One 
of  the  most  interesting  features  of  Arctic 
waters,  especially  between  Greenland  and  Spits- 
bergen and  to  the  north  of  Spitsbergen  well 
into  the  Polar  Basin,  is  the  existence  of  an 
intermediate  layer  of  comparatively  warm  water 
in  the  Arctic  Ocean  between  the  surface  colder 
water  and  the  colder  water  beneath.  This 
was  observed  as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century  by  Scoresby  and  sub- 


178  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

sequently  by  many  other  observers,  among 
whom  are  Admiral  Markham,  Maury  and  Leigh 
Smith,  and  in  more  recent  years  by  Nansen, 
the  Prince  of  Monaco,  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
the  author,  and  many  others.  A  century  ago 
Scoresby  said,  "On  my  first  trial,  made  in  the 
summer  of  1810,  in  latitude  76°  16'  N.,  longi- 
tude 9°  E.,  the  temperature  at  the  depth  of 
1,380  feet  (230  fathoms),  was  found  to  be  33.3° 
(by  the  water  brought  up),  whilst  at  the  surface 
it  was  28.8°.  In  nearly  twenty  subsequent 
experiments,  an  increase  of  temperature  was 
in  like  manner  discovered  on  bringing  water 
from  below,  or  on  sending  down  a  register  ther- 
mometer to  a  considerable  depth.  In  one 
instance  (the  latitude  being  79°  N.  and  longi- 
tude 5°  40'  E.)  there  was  an  increase  of  7°  of 
temperature  on  descending  600  feet  ;  and  in 
another  series  of  experiments,  near  the  same 
place,  an  increase  of  8°  was  found  at  the  depth 
of  4,380  feet  (730  fathoms)."  Recent  Scan- 
dinavian observers  tend  to  claim  this  as  a  special 
discovery  of  their  own,  and  have  omitted  any 
reference  to  the  work  of  former  explorers,  and 
in  the  case  of  one  man,  Benjamin  Leigh  Smith, 
this  is  especially  ungracious. 

Leigh  Smith  was  one  of  the  first  to  carry 
out  investigations  on  this  intermediate  warm 
layer  in  a  systematic  manner  during  his  cruise 
in  Spitsbergen  seas  in  his  80-ton  schooner  Samp- 


PHYSICS   OF   POLAR   SEAS        179 

son  in  1871.  Leigh  Smith's  observations  were 
some  of  the  earliest,  and  were  most  important  ; 
but,  owing  to  his  modesty,  they  have  not  been 
taken  sufficient  notice  of  either  in  Britain  or 
abroad  ;  Scandinavian  oceanographical  investi- 
gators have  been  especially  remiss  in  this  direc- 
tion. "Honour  where  honour  is  due  !"  so 
we  wish  here  to  honour  this  gallant  Arctic  ex- 
plorer— the  hero  of  five  Arctic  voyages,  the 
discoverer  and  cartographer  of  the  western 
half  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  the  most  remarkable 
leader  of  a  band  of  men,  whose  ship  was  crushed 
in  the  ice  off  Franz  Josef  Land  and  went  down 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Leigh  Smith,  most 
ably  supported  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Neale,  afterwards 
wintered  with  his  twenty-five  men  in  an  im- 
provised hut  with  practically  no  food  but  bear 
and  walrus,  and  during  the  following  summer 
effected  his  own  relief  by  conducting  those 
twenty-five  men — loyal  because  of  their  trust 
in  him  and  love  for  him — in  open  boats  among 
the  Polar  pack  to  Novaya  Zemlya  over  a  dis- 
tance of  500  miles  during  six  weeks.  And,  let 
all  Scandinavian  ocean  physicists  especially 
remember,  that  Leigh  Smith  was  the  saviour 
of  Baron  Nordenskjold's  expedition  of  1872-73 
from  starvation  and  death  in  the  north  of  Spits- 
bergen, and  by  his  good  mapping  the  able  guide 
of  Nansen  and  Johansen  in  the  last  lap  of  their 
remarkable  journey  across  the  Polar  Basin. 


180  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Let  these  Scandinavians  remember  what  Nor- 
denskjold,  the  greatest  of  Scandinavian  explorers, 
afterwards  wrote,  when  the  Swedish  expedition 
had  separated  from  Leigh  Smith,  namely,  that 
"it  was  he  who  was  to  render  it  (the  Swedish 
expedition)  so  great  a  service,  and  bind  its 
members  to  him  for  ever  in  the  bond  of  grati- 
-tude  and  attachment"  ;  and  again,  when 
Nordenskjold  says,  "May  we  be  permitted 
publicly  to  express  the  deep  gratitude  of  all 
of  us  to  Mr.  Leigh  Smith  for  the  costly  and 
welcome  gift,  and  to  assure  him  that  it  will 
be  long  before  the  members  of  the  Swedish 
Polar  Expedition  of  1872-73  forget  the  Diana's 
visit  to  Mussel  Bay." 

It  is  not  creditable  to  Britain  that  this  most 
worthy  and  modest  Englishman  has  never 
received  acknowledgment  of  his  distinguished 
services  in  Polar  exploration  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  his  own  country. 

This  intermediate  warm  layer  of  water,  at 
least  in  the  region  of  the  Greenland  Sea  and 
to  the  north  and  east  of  it,  appears  to  be  due 
to  the  warm  water  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  which, 
having  greater  density  due  to  its  salinity,  dips 
underneath  the  upper  colder  layer,  forming  a 
distinct  intermediate  stratum.  With  all  due 
respect  to  certain  scientific  people  who  deny 
that  the  Gulf  Stream  reaches  the  shores  of 
Britain  and  Spitsbergen,  I  consider  it  quibbling 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         181 

to  deny  its  existence  and  call  this  well-known 
phenomenon  by  some  other  name.  Surely  the 
finding  by  Torell  in  Spitsbergen  in  1861  of  the 
West  Indian  Bean  Entada  gigalobinum  is  suffi- 
cient evidence  alone — call  it  drift,  current, 
stream,  or  what  you  will.  To  the  Gulf  Stream 
is  largely  due  the  open  conditions  of  the  seas 
on  the  west  of  Spitsbergen,  and,  under  certain 
conditions,  north-eastward  even  to  the  north 
of  Novaya  Zemlya  and  the  shores  of  Franz 
Josef  Land  ;  it  also  influences  to  a  considerable 
extent  the  climate  of  western  Europe  and 
Britain,  keeping  the  Norwegian  fiords  free  of  ice 
throughout  the  winter. 

Relative  to  investigations  on  the  influence 
of  the  Gulf  Stream  on  the  Polar  Basin,  is  work 
done  in  what  one  might  call  a  subarctic  region, 
namely  in  the  Faeroe  Channel,  during  the  cruises 
of  the  Lightning  and  Porcupine  in  1868  and 
1869,  where  the  flow  of  the  Gulf  Stream  is  north- 
eastward across  the  ridge,  between  the  Faeroes 
and  Iceland.  In  more  recent  years,  the  Scottish 
Fishery  Board  cruisers  have  made  additional 
more  detailed  investigations  as  well  as  the 
Norwegian  Fishery  steamer  Michael  Sars.  Many 
of  the  most  important  and  interesting  problems 
regarding  the  physics  of  Arctic  seas  circle  round 
the  influence  of  the  Gulf  Stream. 

The  intermediate  warm  layer  of  water  is 
not  peculiar  to  the  Arctic  Regions.  "The 


182  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

common  feature  of  Antarctic  water  found  by 
all  expeditions,"  says  Mr.  J.  Y.  Buchanan, 
"is  the  thick  warm  layer  lying  between  a  cold 
layer  at  the  surface  and  another  cold  layer  at 
the  bottom." 

The  intermediate  warm  layer  in  glacial  seas 
was  found  by  the  Challenger  in  her  Antarctic 
cruise.  Although  she  was  furnished  only  with 
the  "Millar-Casella"  thermometer,  a  protected 
maximum  and  minimum  thermometer  of  the 
Six  type,  by  the  skilful  handling  of  this  instru- 
ment her  staff  was  able  to  make  a  perfect  ther- 
mometrical  survey  of  the  water  from  the  surface 
to  the  depth  where  the  maximum  temperature 
of  the  first  warm  layer  was  found,  which  was 
at  200  fathoms,  and  to  fix  the  superior  and 
inferior  limits  to  the  temperature  of  all  the 
water  below  (Challenger  Report-Narrative,  vol.  i, 
Part  I,  p.  419). 

Buchanan  points  out  that,  "One  of  the  strik- 
ing features  of  the  ocean  discovered  by  the 
Challenger  expedition  was  the  extensive  area 
of  very  cold  water  which  occupies  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  from  the  east  coast  of  South  America 
to  the  ridge  which  runs  north  and  south  in  the 
meridian  of  the  island  of  Ascension.  Here  the 
bottom  temperature  was  found  to  be  32.5°  F. 
The  existence  of  this  exceptionally  cold  bot- 
tom water  was  discovered  on  the  outward 
voyage  in  soundings  near  the  Brazilian  coast, 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         183 

so  that  the  expedition  was  prepared  to  take 
up  the  study  of  it  on  the  way  home.  This 
was  done  very  thoroughly  on  a  line  from  the 
mouth  of  the  River  Plate  along  the  parallel 
of  35°  to  the  meridian  of  Ascension.  The  depth 
of  water  varied  from  1,900  to  2,900  fathoms,  and 
the  distribution  of  temperature  in  the  water 
was,  roughly,  a  warm  surface  layer  of  perhaps 
100  to  200  fathoms,  then  a  thick  layer  of  water 
of  temperature  about  36°  F.  down  to  1,600 
fathoms  near  the  coast,  and  to  2,200  fathoms 
or  thereabouts  at  sea.  Here  was  a  steep  tem- 
perature gradient  falling  away  rapidly  from 
35°  to  33°  F.  and  more  slowly  to  32.5°  F.  The 
occurrence  of  the  steep  gradient  shows  a  renewal 
of  the  water  and  therefore  a  current.  The 
observations  of  the  Valdivia  show  a  similar 
distribution  in  latitude  60°  to  63°  S.,  with  this 
difference — that  the  surface  layer  is  colder  than 
the  intermediate,  being  about  34°  F.  The 
bottom  layer  has  as  low  a  temperature  as  31.5° 
F."  Unfortunately  at  that  time  there  were 
not  enough  determinations  of  temperature  of 
the  deeper  layers  to  indicate  the  gradient  which 
separate  the  cold  bottom  water  from  the  com- 
paratively warm  intermediate  water,  but  now 
the  additional  observations  taken  on  board  the 
Scotia,  Gauss  and  Antarctic  should  help  to  fill 
up  the  gap.  The  results  of  the  extensive  ob- 
servations by  these  three  expeditions  will  be 


184  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

an  undoubted  aid  towards  the  solution  of  the 
meaning  of  this  very  cold  water  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  off  the  east  coast  of  South  America 
northward  toward  the  equator.  The  lowest 
bottom  temperatures  obtained  by  the  Scotia 
were  28.9°  F.  in  2,550  fathoms  in  63°  51'  S., 
41°  50'  W.  ;  30.95°  F.  in  2,547  fathoms  in  64° 
24'  S.,  48°  18'  W.;  31.0°  F.  in  1,775  fathoms 
in  62°  10'  S.,  41°  20°  W. 

The  bottom  temperatures  taken  by  the  Scotia 
farther  south  are  considerably  higher,  and  in 
the  vicinity  of  where  Ross  thought  he  had 
"4,000  fathoms  no  bottom,"  namely,  in  68° 
32'  S.,  12°  49'  W.,  the  Scotia  obtained  a  bottom 
temperature  in  2,485  fathoms  of  31.5°  F. 

It  is  very  tempting  to  suppose  that,  like 
the  Gulf  Stream  in  the  north,  there  is  a  warm 
highly  saline  current  pushing  southward  along 
the  surface  from  the  Atlantic,  which  dips  under 
the  colder  but  less  saline  water  on  the  surface 
of  the  Antarctic  seas,  and  that  getting  cooled, 
this  water  sinks  whilst  abutting  against  the 
Antarctic  continent,  and  by  the  ever-flowing 
southward  upper  current  is  pushed  northward 
underneath  along  the  floor  of  the  ocean,  finding 
its  way  into  the  deeps  to  the  east  of  South 
America.  The  Scotia  salinity  observations  also 
seem  to  support  this  theory,  especially  the 
record  in  159  fathoms  two  miles  off  Coats  Land, 
But  this  hypothesis  is  here  given  with  all  cau- 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         185 

tion,  as  the  results  of  the  observations  of  this 
and  the  other  expeditions  have  not  yet  been 
fully  investigated.  * 

On  board  the  Challenger  Buchanan  ascer- 
tained that  this  exceptionally  cold  bottom 
water  near  the  coast  of  South  America  had 
a  very  high  density,  and  this  was  confirmed 
by  the  observations  of  the  Gazelle.  "It  is 
this  density  at  constant  temperature  which 
decides  whether  a  water  can  carry  its  surface 
temperature  down  to  great  depths,  or  whether 
it  shall  remain  at  the  surface,  and  it  is  the 
annual  range  of  temperature  of  such  water 
which  gives  it  its  penetrating  power"  (Proc. 
Royal  Society,  1875,  vol.  clvii). 

I  have  specially  referred  to  this  cold  water 
at  the  bottom  of  the  deep  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  off  the  South  American  coast 
as  an  example  of  the  intimate  connection  of 
Antarctic  phenomena  with  those  of  other  parts 
of  the  world,  for  here  the  interesting  question 
arises,  How  far  does  this  cold  Antarctic  water 
flowing  northward  at  the  bottom  of  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  (if  the  conclusion  is  correct  on 
the  evidence  we  have  at  our  disposal)  not 
only  affect  the  temperature,  salinity  and 
oxygenation  of  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  but  also,  how  far  does  it  bring  with 
it  forms  of  Antarctic  animal  life,  which  help 
to  populate  the  deep  waters  of  the  Atlantic 


186  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Ocean  in  the  vicinity  of  the  equator  ?  The 
question  is  an  intricate  one,  and  its  solu- 
tion will  be  largely  helped  by  such  work  as 
the  writer  wishes  to  undertake  in  a  second 
Scottish  Antarctic  Expedition,  when  an  inves- 
tigation of  those  seas  which  lie  between  the 
chief  field  of  work  of  the  Scotia,  namely, 
the  Weddell  Sea,  and  that  of  the  Challenger 
south  of  40°  S.,  is  suggested  as  an  important 
part  of  the  programme. 

This  idea  of  the  spread  of  animal  life  from 
the  Poles  to  the  equator  is  not  new.  Professor 
J.  Arthur  Thomson  points  out  that  "The  gen- 
erally accepted  view  is  that  the  deep  sea 
did  not  become  a  possible  home  of  life  until 
perhaps  Cretaceous  times,  until  the  Poles 
cooled  and  the  cold  water  rich  in  oxygen 
sank  to  the  great  depths.  The  affinity  be- 
tween abyssal  animals  and  those  found  in 
shallower  water  in  boreal  seas  has  often  been 
pointed  out,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  deep 
sea  was  largely  peopled  from  the  poles,  or  in 
any  case  from  the  shores"  (The  International 
Geography,  1907,  p.  92). 

That  there  is  a  strong  under-flowing  current 
south  of  70°  S.  in  the  vicinity  of  Coats  Land 
is  certain,  for  on  three  occasions  the  Scotia's 
trawl  was  prevented  from  reaching  the  bottom, 
evidently  having  been  swept  by  such  a  current. 
It  is  not  unlikely  that  it  is  the  cooled  inter- 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         187 

mediate  layer  that  has  sunk  to  the  bottom 
which  is  being  swept  northwards  towards  the 
equator  into  the  deep  abysses  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  to  the  east  of  the  South  American 
coasts.  There  are  many  other  fascinating  prob- 
lems of  oceanic  circulation  that  can  only  be 
solved  by  more  extensive  deep-sea  research  in 
the  South  Polar  Regions. 

There  is  little  doubt,  for  instance,  that  there 
is  a  strong  inflow  of  warm  water  between  lon- 
gitudes 170°  E.  and  180°  E.  where  no  ship  has 
ever  had  any  difficulty  in  reaching  almost 
78°  S.  Every  ship  that  has  ever  tried  has 
always  been  able  to  reach  the  foot  of  Mount 
Erebus  and  Mount  Terror  between  these  lon- 
gitudes with  comparative  ease.  Ross  took  the 
Erebus  and  Terror,  and  since  then  the  Ant- 
arctic, the  Southern  Cross,  the  Discovery,  the 
Morning  (twice),  the  Terra  Nova  and  the  Nim- 
rod  have  had  the  same  experience,  and  now 
Captain  Scott,  doubtless  with  equal  ease,  if 
he  sails  between  these  longitudes,  will  take  the 
Terra  Nova  again  to  McMurdo  Strait  without 
encountering  any  formidable  pack  ice.  Captain 
Armitage  has  told  me  that  on  board  the  Dis- 
covery during  her  voyage  southward  along  this 
route  he  had  no  ice  navigation,  except  for  a 
day  or  so  in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Adare,  and 
even  that  could  have  been  avoided  had  he 
kept  the  vessel  farther  off  the  land.  In  spite 


188  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

of  so  many  expeditions  choosing  this,  the 
easiest  route  to  the  far  south  in  Antarctic  seas, 
we  have  not  many  serial  sea  temperature  ob- 
servations in  these  longitudes  ;  consequently 
there  is  a  fine  field  of  work  for  future  explorers, 
who  are  in  command  of  well-equipped  oceano- 
graphical  ships,  and  whose  programme,  differ- 
ing from  the  plans  of  previous  expeditions 
to  this  region,  is  the  exploration  of  the  sea 
rather  than  the  land,  for  this  land  has  become 
specially  well  known  owing  to  the  splendid 
efforts  of  Scott  and  Shackleton. 

Just  as  there  are  evidently  inflows  of  warm 
water  and  outflows  of  colder  water  in  Ant- 
arctic seas,  so  are  there  similar  phenomena 
in  Arctic  seas.  Reference  has  already  been 
made  to  the  Gulf  Stream.  One  of  the  most 
marked  of  the  cold  currents  is  the  East  Green- 
land current,  which  has  been  known  for  a  long 
time.  Scoresby  in  1823  pointed  out  that  this 
main  current  along  the  eastern  coast  of  Green- 
land "sets  to  the  south-westward."  He  also 
pointed  out  a  periodical  offset  and  inset  that 
occurred.  Leigh  Smith  says,  "Down  the  east 
coast  of  Greenland  there  is  an  Arctic  current 
about  200  miles  broad,  bearing  on  its  surface 
a  mighty  floating  glacier,  which  extends  to 
Cape  Farewell,  a  distance  of  1,400  miles.  The 
rate  of  this  current  is  variously  estimated  from 
5  to  15  miles  a  day."  Captain  David  Gray 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         189 

in  1874,  on  board  the  Eclipse,  records  :  "July 
24th — Found  by  to-day's  observations  that  we 
have  driven  forty-three  miles  S.  by  W.  half 
W.  true,  in  the  past  three  days,  and  that  in 
the  face  of  fresh  winds  from  S.W."  The  drift 
of  the  crew  of  the  Hansa,  1869-70,  also  fur- 
nishes concrete  proof  of  this  current. 

Thanks  to  this  current  flowing  right  across 
the  North  Polar  Basin  from  east  to  west  the 
Fram  was  able  to  drift  across.  It  was  owing 
to  the  same  current  that  the  relics  of  the 
Jeannette,  wrecked  to  the  north  of  the  New 
Siberian  Islands,  were  carried  down  the  east 
coast  of  Greenland  round  Cape  Farewell,  and 
reached  Julianshaab  on  the  west  coast  of  Green- 
land three  years  after  the  wreck  of  the  Jean- 
nette. The  latest  researches  on  this  current  were 
those  made  on  board  the  Duke  of  Orleans's 
yacht,  the  Belgica.  These  observations  add 
very  materially  to  our  exact  knowledge  of  this 
interesting  phenomenon. 

A  similar  current  runs  south-eastward  along 
the  coast  of  Labrador  and  brings  the  Polar 
pack  down  to  Newfoundland  considerably  south 
of  the  latitude  of  the  south  of  Britain.  This 
is  an  excellent  example  of  the  economic  im- 
portance of  having  an  accurate  understanding 
of  the  laws  of  oceanic  circulation  in  the  Arctic 
Regions  and  their  relationship  with  neighbour- 
ing seas  and  coasts. 


190  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Antarctic  deep-sea  deposits  (Scotia  Deep-Sea 
Deposits,  by  Dr.  J.  H.  H.  Pine,  Scot.  Geog. 
Mag.,  Aug.  1905)  furnish  very  strong  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  a  large  continental  land- 
mass  around  the  South  Pole.  The  chief  re- 
search in  this  direction  has  been  done  by  the 
Challenger,  the  Valdivia,  the  Belgica,  the  Gauss, 
the  Antarctic,  and  the  Scotia,  and  recently  by 
the  Pourquoi-pas  ?.  From  the  results  of  these 
expeditions  we  find  that  between  40°  S.  and  55° 
S.  there  is  a  broad  band  of  globigerina  ooze, 
with  patches  here  and  there  in  deeper  water, 
far  from  the  land,  of  red  clay.  To  the  south 
of  this  band  there  is  a  band  of  diatom  ooze 
to  which  reference  is  made  in  another  place. 
This  band  forms  a  complete  circle,  generally 
speaking,  between  55°  S.  and  60°  S.  We  notice, 
however,  that  the  band  becomes  very  narrow 
in  the  Drake  Strait,  halfway  between  South 
America  and  Graham  Land,  where  it  stretches 
only  between  58°  and  60°  S.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  widens  out  very  much  to  the  south  of 
South  Africa,  where  the  band  stretches  from 
about  44°  S.  to  60°  S.  To  the  east  of  this  it 
appears  to  dip  southward  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Enderby  Land,  but  otherwise  the  dis- 
tribution is  much  as  has  been  already  described. 
It  would  be  of  immense  interest  to  dwell  at 
length  upon  this  remarkable  deep-sea  deposit, 
which  is  the  most  characteristic  deposit  of  the 


PHYSICS  OF  POLAR  SEAS         191 

Antarctic  and  subantarctic  Regions,  and  which 
does  not  occur  in  other  parts  of  the  world  except 
to  a  quite  insignificant  extent  in  certain  places. 
To  the  south  of  this  belt  or  band  of  diatom 
ooze  we  have  a  continuous  ring  south  of  60° 
S.,  which  is  a  deep-sea  deposit  of  blue  mud. 
In  the  Weddell  and  Biscoe  Seas  we  have  a 
small  patch  in  the  blue  mud  region  which 
seems  to  be  a  sort  of  mixture  of  blue  mud 
and  red  clay,  and  which  is  associated  with  the 
area  of  deep  water  mapped  out  by  the  Val- 
divia  and  the  Scotia.  A  special  point  of 
interest  in  this  blue  mud  deposit  is  found  on 
examining  maps  of  deposits  in  different  parts 
of  the  world,  when  it  is  found  that  this  deposit 
is  always  associated  with  continental  lands. 
It  occurs  round  the  whole  of  the  coasts  of  South 
and  North  America  ;  round  the  coasts  of 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  There  is,  in  fact, 
no  continental  coast  which  is  not  bounded 
by  blue  mud.  The  natural  inference,  there- 
fore, is  that  when  we  find  blue  mud  surround- 
ing an  area  of  land  about  the  South  Pole  that 
it  is  there  in  association  with  a  great  mass  of 
continental  land.  It  may  here  be  mentioned 
that  this  blue  mud  has  one  character  which  is 
not  common  to  other  regions  where  that  deposit 
occurs,  for  during  the  cruise  of  the  Scotia  there 
were  taken  up  with  the  trawl  many  tons  of 
subangular  rocks,  some  of  them  weighing  fully 


192  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

two  to  three  cwts.  The  distribution,  in  the 
Weddell  and  Biscoe  Seas  of  these  great  boulders, 
which  show  glacial  erosion  in  having  had  their 
corners  ground  off,  indicates  that  they  have 
doubtless  been  carried  out  to  the  deep  water 
of  the  Weddell  Sea  at  the  bottom  of  great 
icebergs  that  once  formed  part  of,  and  have 
been  calved  from  the  great  ice-sheet  that  prob- 
ably flows  northward  from  the  South  Pole  over 
the  Antarctic  continent  and  finally  break  off 
at  ice-faces  bounding  the  Weddell  and  Biscoe 
Seas.  Nothing  would  be  more  tempting  than 
to  discuss  at  greater  length  these  deep-sea 
deposits,  but  that  must  be  done  at  another 
time  and  in  another  place.  Meantime  the  im- 
portant feature  to  remember  is  the  diatom  ooze 
at  the  bottom  of  the  Antarctic  and  subantarctic 
seas  and  the  blue  muds  in  the  vicinity  of  all 
known  Antarctic  lands,  indicating  a  greater 
extension  of  those  lands  and  the  existence  of 
a  great  Antarctic  Continent,  further  proof  of 
which  has  already  been  given. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

METEOROLOGY 

NOT  the  least  interesting  study  of  the  Polar 
Regions  is  from  the  meteorological  aspect,  and 
this  seems  to  be  especially  so  in  the  case  of 
the  Antarctic  Regions.  It  seems  extremely 
likely,  if  a  set  of  permanent  stations  were  es- 
tablished in  the  Antarctic  Regions,  with  first- 
class  equipment,  thoroughly  trained  observers 
and  not  too  few  of  them,  that  we  might  find 
the  key  for  forecasting  the  weather  not  only 
of  the  southern  hemisphere,  but  also,  at  least 
to  some  extent,  that  of  the  northern  hemis- 
phere also.  One  of  the  triumphs  of  the  Scot- 
tish Expedition  (1902-1904)  was  the  meteoro- 
logical work,  and  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Scotia  had  on  board  such  an  eminent  prac- 
tical meteorologist  as  Mr.  Robert  C.  Mossman. 
Mr.  Mossman  conducted  the  chief  meteoro- 
logical station  in  Edinburgh  ;  he  had,  besides, 
extensive  practical  experience  of  work  on  the 
summit  of  Ben  Nevis,  and  at  the  head  of  Glen 
Nevis.  The  Glen  Nevis  station  was  especially 
for  the  study  of  the  Fohn  winds.  Before  Mr. 
Mossman  joined  the  Scotiay  his  field  work  and 

193 


194  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

publications  had  placed  him  in  the  van  of 
European  meteorologists.  Mr.  Mossman  was 
supported  by  two  other  trained  meteorologists 
— the  author,  who  had  had  experience  for  nearly 
two  years  at  both  high  and  low  level  Ben  Nevis 
observatories,  and  who  had  been  in  charge 
of  the  summit  observatory  for  more  than  a 
year,  besides  having  had  previous  meteoro- 
logical training  and  experience,  and  Mr.  D.  W. 
Wilton,  who  had  also  worked  as  an  observer 
at  both  Ben  Nevis  stations,  and  who  had  been 
in  charge  of  a  smaller  observatory  half-way 
up  the  Ben  for  some  months. 

Thus,  not  only  were  there  three  thoroughly 
trained  meteorologists  on  board  the  Scotia, 
a  condition  of  efficiency  not  approached  by 
any  other  Antarctic  expedition,  but  each  one 
of  the  three  had  experience  of  taking  observa- 
tions amid  conditions  of  continual  ice  and  snow. 
One  had  had  experience  of  taking  meteorological 
observations  during  long  periods  both  in  the 
Antarctic  and  Arctic  Regions,  and  a  second 
had  had  experience  of  taking  meteorological 
observations  for  fifteen  months  in  the  Arctic 
Regions.  Besides  these  three,  Captain  Robert- 
son had  taken  meteorological  observations  in 
the  Arctic  and  Antarctic  Regions  during  many 
voyages.  These  facts  are  mentioned  to  em- 
phasize the  importance  of  the  Scotia  meteor- 
ology, which  has  been  enhanced  by  the  fact 


METEOROLOGY  195 

that  the  results  have  been  worked  up  by  the 
man  who  conducted  the  work  in  the  field,  and 
who  remained  in  the  Antarctic  Regions  for 
another  year,  in  the  service  of  the  Argentine 
Republic,  after  the  Scotia  had  sailed  for  home. 

Mr.  Mossman  has,  since  the  completion  of 
the  Meteorological  Reports  of  the  Scotia,  re- 
joined the  Meteorological  Service  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  and  a  special  part  of  his  work 
there  is  in  connection  with  the  working  up  of 
the  results  of  the  Scotia  Bay  Station,  which 
that  energetic  South  American  Republic  has 
continued  to  support  and  direct  during  the  past 
six  years.  The  results  of  this  work  are  already 
being  felt.  Before  the  Scotia  had  left  the  Ant- 
arctic Seas,  Mr.  Mossman  was  able  to  demon- 
strate meteorologically  the  existence  of  the 
land  reported  by  Johnson  and  Morrell,  extend- 
ing northward  to  about  latitude  65°  S.  in  longi- 
tude 44°  W.,  where  both  Ross  and  Crozier 
reported  an  "appearance  of  land,"  and  where 
Nordenskjold's  people  on  board  the  Antarctic 
also  had  possible  "appearance  of  land."  Nor- 
denskjold  dismisses  the  idea  of  land  here  because 
an  iceberg  was  actually  mistaken  for  an  island 
at  one  time,  and  because  of  the  depth  obtained, 
viz.  2,031  fathoms.  But  Nordenskjold,  accord- 
ing to  his  chart,  was  at  least  40  miles  farther 
off  the  point  where  Ross  and  Crozier  reported 
"appearance  of  land,"  "land  blink,"  etc.  (Pre- 


196  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

liminary  Chart,  showing  the  Track  of  the 
"  Antarctic"  in  Antarctica,  by  Dr.  N.  Otto  G. 
Nordenskjold  and  Dr.  John  Gunnar  Andersson  : 
London,  1905).  The  depth  also  is  quite  sig- 
nificant of  land  in  these  regions,  for  the  Scotia 
obtained  1,746  fathoms  fifteen  miles  off  Coro- 
nation Island,  and  2,370  fathoms  only  sixty 
miles  off  Coats  Land.  Mr.  Mossman  has 
pointed  out  that  at  Scotia  Bay,  South  Ork- 
neys, "the  warmest  winds  are  N.W.  and  N., 
and  the  coldest  S.  and  S.E.,  there  being  a 
difference  of  21.7°  between  the  warmest  and 
coldest  directions.  It  is  of  interest  to  note 
the  great  difference  between  the  temperature 
of  west  and  south-west  winds.  On  the  mean 
of  the  seven  months  the  south-west  is  16.5° 
colder  than  the  west,  while  in  June  the  difference 
was  as  much  as  22.2°  F. 

"From  these  observations  it  appears  prob- 
able that  there  is  a  mass  of  land,  the  northern 
extremity  of  which  is  in  lat.  65°  S.,  long.  44° 
W.,  both  Morrell  and  Ross  having  referred 
to  an  'appearance  of  land'  in  this  region.  The 
circumstance  that  'Fohn'  winds  blow  from  the 
west  doubtless  partly  accounts  for  their  rela- 
tively high  temperature  ;  but  there  are  other 
reasons,  notably  the  comparatively  high  baro- 
metric pressure  experienced  with  south-west 
winds,  which  indicate  a  local  anticyclone  in 
winter  such  as  would  form  over  a  land  surface." 


METEOROLOGY  197 

Since  that  time,  with  the  additional  data 
furnished  by  the  Scotia  Bay  Station  during 
eight  years,  it  has  become  more  than  ever 
certain  that  New  South  Greenland,  as  Johnson 
called  it,  really  exists.  The  meteorological 
observations  of  the  Scotia  have  also  helped 
to  prove  that  Coats  Land  is  part  of  the 
Antarctic  Continent. 

If  no  other  results  of  the  Scotia  meteorology 
than  these  two  had  been  obtained,  it  would 
be  acknowledged  that  those  results  were  very 
valuable  indeed.  But  Mossman  has  also  found 
that  there  is  a  distinct  relationship  between 
the  weather  in  Chile  and  the  weather  in  the 
Weddell  Sea.  This  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
economic  results  of  the  voyage  of  the  Scotia. 
I  will  even  venture  to  predict  that  the  observa- 
tions carried  on  at  Scotia  Bay,  along  with  those 
in  South  America  and  South  Africa,  will  be 
found  most  valuable  in  predicting  the  condition 
of  the  monsoons  in  India.  Should  this  prove 
to  be  the  case,  it  can  then  be  said  that  the 
study  of  meteorology  in  the  Antarctic  Regions 
can  be  used  for  the  alleviation  of  human  suffer- 
ing by  enabling  us  to  give  sufficiently  long 
warning  to  our  fellow  citizens  of  the  Indian 
Empire  to  prepare  for  failure  of  crops,  and 
ward  off  starvation  and  ruin. 

The  meteorological  work  of  the  Scotia  has 
alone  been  mentioned,  and  that  is  because  it 


198  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

is  generally  acknowledged  that  this  work  con- 
ducted by  Mossman  is  the  most  important 
of  all  the  meteorological  work  carried  out  by 
any  of  the  Antarctic  expeditions.  But  all 
the  recent  Antarctic  expeditions  have  taken 
very  careful  series  of  observations,  and  these 
taken  along  with  the  Scotia  observations  form 
a  most  valuable  addition,  not  only  to  our 
knowledge  of  Antarctic  weather  conditions, 
but  to  the  meteorology  of  the  world.  Since 
the  establishment  of  the  Scotia  Bay  Observa- 
tories, the  Argentine  Republic  have  set  up 
another  station  on  South  Georgia,  and  have 
considered  setting  up  yet  another  on  the  west 
coast  of  Graham  Land  where  De  Gerlache 
and  Charcot  have  done  such  very  excellent 
meteorological  work.  Charcot's  observations, 
having  been  synchronous  with  those  at  Scotia 
Bay  and  South  Georgia,  are  very  important. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  more  of  these  per- 
manent stations  in  other  parts  of  the  Antarctic 
and  subantarctic  Regions  working  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  two  already  mentioned  and  with 
the  observatories  not  only  in  South  America, 
but  also  in  conjunction  with  those  in  South 
Africa,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand,  would 
be  a  most  valuable  form  of  Antarctic  explora- 
tion that  would  greatly  increase  our  knowledge 
and  benefit  humanity. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge  on  the  scientific 


METEOROLOGY  199 

value  of  such  a  network  of  meteorological 
stations  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  where, 
on  account  of  the  huge  expanse  of  ocean,  at- 
mospheric conditions  are  simplified  and  there 
are  not  so  many  of  those  disturbing  conditions 
which  upset  the  most  careful  calculations  in 
the  northern  hemisphere,  where  the  oceans 
are  of  less  account,  and  only  serve  to  separate 
from  one  another  land  masses  of  varying  size 
and  character.  If  all  the  surface  of  the  globe 
were  water  or  land  of  uniform  altitude,  meteor- 
ology would  be  simplicity  itself,  but  as  it  is, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  complex  sciences  existing. 
It  is,  therefore,  very  essential  to  concentrate 
our  energies  on  those  parts  of  the  terrestrial 
globe  where  conclusions  are  most  likely  to  be 
arrived  at  concerning  the  general  laws  which 
govern  the  climate  and  weather  of  the  world. 
In  the  far  south  the  conditions  are  simpler 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  hence  the 
importance  of  making  a  special  study  of  meteor- 
ology round  about  the  South  Pole. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  place  an  economic,  or  even 
a  scientific,  value  on  the  meteorological  work 
that  has  been  done  in  the  North  Polar  Regions. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  analyse  properly  Arctic 
observations,  owing,  as  before  stated,  to  the 
more  complex  distribution  of  land  and  water 
in  that  region.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that 
one  of  the  difficulties  is  the  desultory  fashion 


200  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

in  which  meteorological  investigation  has  been 
carried  out  in  the  North  Polar  Regions,  the 
international  co-operation  of  1881  and  1882 
being  the  only  instance  where  a  systematic 
attempt  was  made  to  study  the  meteorology 
of  the  Arctic  Regions  as  a  whole,  and  even  these 
stations  were  not  hi  existence  for  a  long  enough 
period.  Yet  it  was  largely  the  study  of  these 
records  that  enabled  Nansen  to  plan  his  expe- 
dition in  the  Fram,  and  to  venture  to  boldly 
thrust  his  ship  into  the  ice-pack,  confident 
that  the  drift  would  carry  it  right  across  to  the 
open  water  at  the  other  side  of  the  Pole.  Peary, 
in  his  many  sledging  expeditions  from  the  north 
coasts  of  Greenland  and  Grant  Land  towards 
the  Pole,  found  the  ice-floes  always  moving 
eastward,  indicating  a  drift  of  the  Arctic  water 
in  that  direction.  There  is  no  doubt  that  a 
systematic  study  of  the  winds  of  the  Arctic 
and  subarctic  Regions  in  relation  to  then*  cyclonic 
and  anticyclonic  systems  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance, as  upon  these  winds  depend  very 
largely  the  direction  and  flow  of  Arctic  currents 
and  Arctic  ice-pack.  Given  prevailingly  north- 
east winds  over  Franz  Josef  Land,  even  if  they 
are  very  light,  then  the  polar  pack  comes  driving 
past  that  archipelago,  not  only  the  north  but 
also  the  south  of  it  by  the  straits  between  it 
and  the  north  of  Novaya  Zemlya.  Jamming 
against  the  east  coast  of  Wilczek  Land,  and 


METEOROLOGY  201 

against  the  north  end  of  Novaya  Zemlya,  this 
southern  pack  sweeps  westward  across  the 
northern  portion  of  the  Barents  Sea,  and,  bring- 
ing up  against  the  east  coast  of  Spitsbergen, 
is  forced  past  South  Cape,  and,  during  some 
summers  like  that  of  1910,  round  South  Cape, 
filling  up  Bell  Sound  and  other  western  fiords 
in  Spitsbergen  with  ice.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  there  is  a  prevalence  of  south-east  winds 
in  the  Barents  and  Greenland  seas,  this  pack 
is  driven  back,  and  the  coasts  of  Spitsbergen, 
and  even  the  southern  shores  of  Franz  Josef 
Land,  are  free  of  ice.  This  was  the  case  in 
Franz  Josef  Land  during  the  summer  of  1897, 
and  even  during  the  previous  midwinter,  when 
there  was  open  water  to  within  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  of  Cape  Flora,  on  the  24th  of  December, 
1896.  On  the  contrary,  the  wreck  of  Leigh 
Smith's  yacht,  the  Eira,  off  Cape  Flora  in  1881, 
was  due  to  a  change  of  balance  between  the 
easterly  and  westerly  system  of  winds,  which 
caused  the  polar  pack  rapidly  to  close  hi  upon 
the  vessel,  and  crush  it  against  the  land  floe. 
Leigh  Smith  had  foreseen  this,  for  he  well  knew 
how  the  movements  of  the  pack  depended  on 
the  wind,  and,  had  his  instructions  been  car- 
ried out,  the  Eira  would  not  have  been  lost. 

That  part  of  the  current  which  passes  to  the 
north  of  Franz  Josef  Land  from  east  to  west, 
and  which  is  largely  dependent  on  the  wind, 


202  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

was  the  current  that  carried  the  Fram  across 
the  Polar  Basin  from  the  New  Siberian  Islands 
to  the  north-west  of  Spitsbergen.  Now  these 
easterly  and  north-easterly  winds  that  have 
been  spoken  of  are  the  outflowing  winds  of 
the  Eurasian  anticyclone,  as  are  the  north- 
west winds  blowing  across  the  Himalayas  and 
continuing  as  the  north-east  monsoons  of  India, 
and  which  prevail  during  January  and  Feb- 
ruary over  India,  that  is,  during  the  same  time 
as  the  easterly  and  north-easterly  breezes  of 
the  Arctic  Regions.  Now  January  and  Feb- 
ruary is  the  period  of  the  greatest  intensity 
and  extension  of  the  great  anticyclone,  an  inti- 
mate study  of  which  from  the  North  Pole  to 
the  tropic  cannot  fail  to  be  of  the  greatest 
possible  value  for  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
that  part  of  the  terrestrial  globe  which  con- 
tains about  three-quarters  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  world.  The  ice  movements  which 
troubled  Peary,  and  made  his  earlier  attempts 
futile,  and  added  difficulty  and  grave  risk  to 
his  last  successful  journey  to  the  North  Pole, 
are  also  ultimately  caused  by  the  winds  flowing 
from  the  great  winter  anticyclone  of  northern 
Asia. 

This  one  example  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  value  of  Arctic  exploration  from  a  meteor- 
ological standpoint.  During  any  northern  winter 
if  this  Eurasian  anticylcone  from  some  cause 


METEOROLOGY  203 

or  other  is  not  so  intense  or  so  extensive  in 
area,  it  means  that  there  is  a  breakdown  of 
the  north-east  monsoons  in  India,  and  a  break- 
down of  the  north-easterly  system  in  the  Barents 
Sea.  Hence,  we  have  this  further  relationship, 
that  if  there  is  a  breakdown  of  north-east  mon- 
soons in  India,  there  is  a  minimum  amount  of 
pack  ice  in  the  Barents  Sea  and  on  the  shores 
of  Spitsbergen,  which  reminds  one  of  Mossman's 
dictum,  that  the  failure  of  the  winter  rains  on 
the  coast  of  Chile,  south  of  lat.  33°,  means 
that  the  Weddell  Sea  is  comparatively  clear 
of  ice. 

It  must  be  emphasised  that  well-trained 
meteorologists  are  essential  for  conducting  thor- 
oughly satisfactory  observations,  for  there  are 
many  errors  that  unguided  amateurs  are  apt 
to  commit,  however  conscientious  they  may 
be  in  the  task  set  them. 

The  selection  and  setting  up  of  instruments, 
either  on  board  ship  or  ashore,  is  important. 
Before  the  departure  of  the  Scotia  I  was  aware 
that  temperature  observations  on  board  ship 
were  often  vitiated  by  the  warmth  from  the 
ship  itself  according  to  the  relative  direction 
of  the  wind.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this  well- 
known  fact,  I  have  not  known  any  other  ship 
but  the  Scotia  fitted  out  with  a  double  set  of 
thermometers,  one  on  the  port  side  and  the 
other  to  starboard.  This  was  the  arrangement 


204  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

which  Mossman,  at  my  suggestion,  adopted. 
Another  important  consideration  in  the  placing 
of  thermometers  on  board  ship  is  to  see 
that  they  are  placed  in  a  thoroughly  exposed 
position  in  good  louvred  screens,  which  can 
get  a  free  breeze  across  them  :  not  up  against 
a  bulkhead  or  under  a  bridge  or  any  other  such 
place.  On  the  Scotia  they  were  fitted  up  against 
stanchions  on  each  side  of  the  quarter  on  the 
poop  deck,  about  five  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  deck,  and  projecting  as  much  as  18  inches 
clear  of  the  ship's  side,  where  they  were  in  an 
absolutely  open  position. 

When  the  temperature  observations  were 
being  made  the  dry  and  wet  bulbs  on  both 
sides  of  the  ship  were  read,  and  the  readings  of 
those  on  the  weather  side  were  recorded  as 
the  correct  ones.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
errors  of  several  degrees  were  observed  on  the 
leeside  thermometers  on  many  occasions,  es- 
pecially when  the  Scotia  was  in  high  latitudes 
and  low  temperatures  prevailed.  Furnaces,  gal- 
ley and  cabin  stoves,  and  the  general  higher 
temperature  of  the  ship  itself  all  affected  the 
readings.  On  rare  occasions  when  the  wind 
was  absolutely  ahead,  and  it  was  thought  that 
both  the  port  and  starboard  thermometers  might 
be  affected,  Mossman  used  sling  thermometers 
on  the  foc'sle  head,  but  these,  as  a  rule,  did 
not  vary  a  tenth  of  a  degree  Fahrenheit  from 


METEOROLOGY  205 

the  lowest  reading  of  the  quarter  thermometers. 
Furthermore,  when  the  Scotia  was  wintering 
in  Scotia  Bay,  and  when  there  was  a  regular 
series  of  meteorological  instruments  set  up  in 
thorough  observatory  fashion  ashore,  it  was 
found  that  the  weather-side  deck  thermometers 
compared  absolutely  with  those  on  shore. 

"Except  on  rare  occasions,"  says  Mr.  Moss- 
man,  "one  side  of  the  ship  was  definitely  a 
weather  and  the  other  a  lee  side.  It  may  be 
worthy  of  notice  that  there  was  usually  a  differ- 
ence of  one  or  two  degrees  between  the  weather 
and  the  lee  side  of  the  Scotia,  the  instrumental 
readings  on  the  lee  side  being  affected  by  heated 
currents  from  the  cabins  and  engine-room, — 
hence  the  importance  of  having  thermometer 
screens  on  both  sides  of  the  poop.  On  one 
occasion  the  lee  side  was  as  much  as  5°  warmer 
than  the  weather  side,  and  on  another  occasion, 
during  a  calm,  a  difference  of  nearly  10°  was 
noted." 

A  further  check  was  afforded  by  the  records 
of  three  Richard  thermographs,  which  gave 
continuous  records  of  temperature.  Some  little 
trouble  was  at  first  experienced  by  Mossman 
with  the  wet  bulb  thermometers,  due  to  saline 
accretions  on  the  muslin  and  bulb  of  the  instru- 
ment, such  as  are  formed  on  every  exposed 
part  of  a  vessel  at  sea.  The  result  was  that 
in  the  course  of  a  week  or  so  a  coating  of  salt 


206  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

formed  round  the  bulb  which  could  with  difficulty 
be  removed  by  scraping  with  a  knife,  or  took 
some  time  to  dissolve  even  when  the  thermom- 
eter was  soaked  in  tepid  water.  But  by  chang- 
ing the  water  in  the  reservoir  frequently,  and 
placing  a  fresh  piece  of  muslin  on  about  once 
a  week,  thoroughly  satisfactory  results  were 
obtained,  the  wet  bulb  being  further  syringed 
daily  with  distilled  water.  The  Richard  hair 
hygrograph  was  employed  as  a  check,  so  that 
any  serious  discrepancy  between  the  two  in- 
struments was  at  once  apparent.  For  measure- 
ment of  the  intensity  of  solar  radiation  a  black 
bulb  thermometer  in  vacua  was  employed. 
This  was  fixed  in  a  stand  secured  to  the  bridge 
in  such  a  position  that  the  sun  could  shine  on 
it  as  nearly  as  possible  at  all  hours  of  the  day. 

Two  barometers  of  the  new  marine  pattern 
were  in  use  :  one  being  placed  in  the  deck  lab- 
oratory at  a  height  of  seven  feet  above  the 
sea,  while  the  other  was  a  spare  instrument 
and  was  kept  aft  in  the  cabin.  Three  self-record- 
ing Richard  barographs  yielded  continuous  traces 
of  barometric  pressure.  One  of  the  late  Dr. 
Black's  marine  rain-gauges  was  placed  aft  on 
the  poop  well  clear  of  the  deck.  Its  position 
was  changed  occasionally  as  circumstances  arose, 
in  order  that  it  might  always  be  on  the  weather 
side.  The  exposure — taking  into  account  the 
various  difficulties  attending  rainfall  observa- 


METEOROLOGY  207 

tions  at  sea — was  a  very  good  one,  as  the  gauge 
was  never  sheltered  by  the  sails.  The  thickness 
of  the  rainband  in  the  spectrum  of  sunlight 
was  taken  daily  at  noon,  and  the  temperature 
of  the  sea  surface  was  observed  every  four 
hours,  and  at  more  frequent  intervals  when 
rapid  changes  were  in  progress. 

For  ascertaining  rapid  fluctuations  of  the 
atmospheric  pressure  a  Richard  statoscope  was 
employed  ;  this  is  really  an  extremely  delicate 
recording  aneroid,  in  which  changes  of  pressure 
are  magnified  twenty-five  times.  This  instru- 
ment was  also  used  for  recording  the  height 
of  waves.  A  chart  put  into  motion  by  clock- 
work receives  a  trace  of  the  pressure-fluctuations 
due  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  waves,  the  height 
of  which  could  thus  be  calculated.  Attempts 
were  also  made  to  fly  kites  for  recording  meteoro- 
logical observations  at  high  altitudes,  but  it 
was  found  difficult  to  get  the  kite  clear  away 
from  the  ship  owing  to  eddies  formed  by  the 
heavy  masts,  yards  and  rigging  of  a  full-barque- 
rigged  ship,  although  several  of  us  were  quite 
proficient  in  getting  kites  clear  away  from  a 
small  steamer  which  had  less  heavy  rigging. 
Another  drawback  was  that  the  speed  of  the 
Scotia  was  scarcely  sufficient  under  some  con- 
ditions to  keep  the  kites  flying  well.  It  may 
be  noted  that  Mr.  John  Anderson,  the  pioneer 
of  meteorological  kite-work  in  Scotland,  had 


208  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

equipped  the  Scottish  Expedition  with  a  small 
machine  for  reeling  in  the  piano  wire  attached 
to  box-shaped  kites  of  the  Blue  Hill  pattern. 
Specially  constructed  meteorographs,  made  of 
aluminium,  were  carried  up  by  the  kites,  on 
which  a  record  of  the  vertical  distribution  of 
pressure,  temperature,  and  humidity  was  graphi- 
cally recorded. 

While  mentioning  this  high-altitude  equip- 
ment on  board  the  Scotia,  it  is  appropriate  to 
refer  to  the  splendid  services  the  Prince  of 
Monaco  has  rendered  meteorology  in  the  North 
Polar  Regions  by  the  use  of  kites  and  balloons. 
The  author  had  the  advantage  of  accompany- 
ing the  Prince  on  three  of  his  voyages  to  the 
north-west  of  Spitsbergen,  and  of  assisting  him 
in  making  these  observations. 

"The  launching  of  a  kite,"  says  the  Prince 
of  Monaco  ("Meteorological  Researches  in  the 
High  Atmosphere,"  Scot.  Geog.  Mag.,  March 
1907),  "from  a  ship  is  always  a  delicate  opera- 
tion, and  one  which  demands  experience  on 
account  of  the  vortices  found  in  the  aerial  wake 
of  the  ship,  of  which  those  visible  in  the  aqueous 
wake  are  the  image.  Often  when  the  apparatus 
has  reached  a  height  where  it  appears  to  be 
out  of  danger  it  may  be  caught  by  one  of  these 
risky  vortices  and  precipitated  into  the  sea. 
In  stormy  weather  such  a  catastrophe  may 
occur  even  after  the  kite  has  risen  to  a  height 
of  several  hundred  metres. 


METEOROLOGY  209 

"When  the  wind  is  strong  enough  and  the 
bridle  (the  object  of  which  is  to  keep  the  face 
of  the  kite  to  which  it  is  attached  horizontal) 
is  not  very  exactly  balanced,  the  kite  at  once 
executes  plunging  zigzag  movements  which  may 
produce  such  a  strain  as  to  break  the  line.  When 
the  kites  have  reached  the  greatest  altitude 
permitted  by  the  circumstances,  the  paying  out 
of  the  wire  is  stopped,  and,  either  by  increasing 
the  speed  of  the  ship,  or  by  heaving  in  the  wire 
as  quickly  as  possible,  a  little  final  augmentation 
of  height  is  obtained.  The  recovery  of  kites, 
although  somewhat  delicate,  presents  less  diffi- 
culty than  their  dispatch.  As  at  the  launching 
of  the  kite,  a  subsidiary  line  is  used,  which 
is  run  alongside  of  the  bridle  as  soon  as  this 
is  got  hold  of,  so  as  to  limit  the  motions  of  the 
kite. 

"Unfortunately,  even  with  the  greatest  care, 
accidents  occur."  Five  or  six  or  even  more 
kites  may  sometimes  be  attached  one  after  the 
other  along  the  wire.  Should  the  kite  and 
instruments  fall  into  the  water,  "it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  curves  furnished  by  our  instru- 
ments can  resist  a  prolonged  immersion  without 
suffering  damage  when  they  meet  with  such 
an  accident.  The  curve  is  a  line  traced  by  the 
pen  on  a  layer  of  lamp  black,  deposited  on  the 
cylinder  by  the  smoky  flame  of  a  petroleum 
lamp.  In  a  case  of  immersion  the  carbonaceous 


210  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

particles  disappear,  but  an  excessively  thin 
coating  of  grease,  deposited  with  the  carbon 
from  the  flame,  remains  and  the  line  traced  by 
the  point  of  the  pen  is  clearly  visible  in  it  with 
a  magnifying  glass. 

"A  notable  instance  occurred  during  one 
of  my  earliest  experiments  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean in  1904.  An  instrument  was  lost  to 
the  northward  of  Corsica,  and  was  found  on 
the  shore  of  Provence  fifteen  days  later.  The 
curves  traced  in  the  greasy  film  on  the  recording 
drum  were  still  perfectly  visible,  and  were 
utilised  with  the  others  in  Professor  Hergesell's 
laboratory. 

"A  kite  operation,  at  a  height  of  3,000  to 
5,000  metres,  lasts  almost  the  whole  day,  and 
the  ship,  which  must  at  times  steam  full  speed 
(the  yacht  Princesse  Alice  attains  a  maximum 
speed  of  13  knots)  in  order  to  enable  the  kites 
to  pass  through  zones  of  light  wind  or  of  calm, 
may  easily  cover  a  distance  of  50  or  60  miles 
during  the  operation." 

But,  besides  kite  observations  at  high  altitude, 
the  Prince  of  Monaco  has  made  some  very  re- 
markable investigations  in  the  Arctic  Regions 
by  means  of  small  balloons,  which  he  terms 
"battons-sonde,"  which  carry  up  instruments, 
and  which,  by  several  different  ingenious  de- 
vices, he  recovers  again.  He  has  also  made 
many  valuable  observations,  by  means  of  pilot 


METEOROLOGY  211 

balloons,  which  he  has  succeeded  in  following 
to  the  stupendous  height  of  97,700  feet,  or 
49?  miles  from  the  surface  of  the  earth,  that 
is,  three  and  a  third  times  as  high  as  the  summit 
of  Mount  Everest — the  highest  mountain  in 
the  world. 

After  carrying  on  numerous  investigations 
in  the  Mediterranean  and  in  the  North-east 
Trades,  the  Prince  of  Monaco  in  1906  pro- 
ceeded on  his  third  voyage  to  the  Arctic  Regions, 
his  destination  being  the  Greenland  Sea  off 
the  north-west  of  Spitsbergen.  In  Spitsbergen 
itself,  he  was  to  land  a  Scottish  party  under 
the  author's  leadership  for  the  detailed  survey 
of  Prince  Charles  Foreland,  and  a  Norwegian 
party  under  Captain  Isachsen  for  the  survey 
of  part  of  the  mainland  ;  while  he  himself, 
associated  with  Professor  Hergesell  of  Strasburg, 
was  to  explore  the  higher  atmosphere.  On 
July  13,  1906,  I  have  interesting  recollections 
of  being  one  of  a  party  of  three,  the  other  two 
being  Professor  Hergesell  and  Captain  H.  W. 
Carr,  R.N.R.,  for  so  many  years  the  Prince's 
commander  and  aide-de-camp,  who  conducted 
the  theodolite  work  ashore  at  Deere  Sound 
(recently  erroneously  called  King's  Bay),  whilst 
the  Prince  of  Monaco  was  on  board  the  Princesse 
Alice,  attending  to  the  liberation  of  a  pilot 
balloon — the  first  that  was  ever  set  free  in  the 
Arctic  Regions.  While  Professor  Hergesell  fol- 


212  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

lowed  continuously  the  ever-ascending  balloon 
with  the  theodolite  telescope,  Captain  Carr  and 
I  were  reading  the  vertical  and  horizontal  limb 
of  the  theodolite  and  recording  our  synchron- 
ous observations.  Knowing  its  ascensional  force 
Professor  Hergesell  was  able  to  calculate  the 
course  and  altitude  of  the  balloon,  which  reached 
a  height  of  26,050  feet,  where  a  W.N.W.  wind 
was  blowing  at  the  rate  of  28  metres  per  second. 
The  weather  was  clear,  calm,  and  sunny,  and 
gave  a  very  good  opportunity  to  carry  out  this 
series  of  observations  in  a  thoroughly  satis- 
factory manner. 

During  this  interesting  investigation  of  the 
atmosphere  the  Prince  of  Monaco  was  much 
hampered  in  carrying  out  his  programme  by 
persistent  fogs  over  the  sea  to  the  westward 
of  Spitsbergen,  although  in  the  bays  and  on 
the  land  the  weather  was  magnificent.  Thus 
the  dispatch  of  " ballons-sonde"  which  the  pre- 
liminary experiments  in  the  Mediterranean  had 
rendered  perfect  of  execution  was  stopped  by 
this  insurmountable  difficulty.  Twice  only  was 
it  possible  to  dispatch  them.  Nevertheless, 
the  information  received  was  very  valuable, 
since  the  registering  instrument  brought  back 
curves  from  an  altitude  of  24,600  feet  in  lati- 
tude 78°  55'  N. 

In  this  Arctic  voyage  the  Prince  had  to 
resort  to  a  new  method  on  account  of  the  con- 


METEOROLOGY  213 

slant  presence  of  clouds  which  were  down  to  a 
very  low  level  although  the  horizon  was  clear, 
a  condition  that  often  prevails  both  in  the 
Arctic  and  Antarctic  Regions  :  this  method 
allowed  of  a  certain  amount  of  exploration 
of  the  atmosphere  though  not  so  extensive 
as  the  method  employed  when  the  sky  was 
cloudless,  or  when  only  detached  clouds  were 
present.  The  balloon  was  furnished  with  means 
capable  only  of  taking  it  to  such  an  altitude 
that  it  could  regain  the  surface  of  the  sea  at 
a  distance  which  does  not  exceed  the  limits 
of  visibility.  The  ship  is  then  stopped  on  the 
spot  where  the  balloon  was  started,  and  atten- 
tive observers  watch  all  directions  in  order  to 
detect  its  return  from  above  the  clouds.  One 
experiment  of  this  kind  that  the  Prince  made 
succeeded  perfectly,  and  the  balloon,  which 
had  reached  a  height  of  15,750  feet  on  a  day 
when  the  sky  was  completely  covered  by  very 
low  clouds,  was  detected  and  recovered  at  a 
distance  of  twelve  miles. 

But  the  most  remarkable  results  the  Prince 
of  Monaco  has  attained  have  been  with  pilot 
balloons.  "These  balloons,"  says  the  Prince, 
"which  are  small  enough  to  be  embraced  by  the 
arms  of  a  man,  have  been  followed  with  a  special 
theodolite  to  the  extraordinary  altitude  of 
29,800  metres  (97,700  ft.),  if  it  is  assumed  that 
their  velocity  of  ascent  increased  a  little  with 


214  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  change  of  density  of  the  atmosphere  in  the 
most  elevated  regions  ;  or  at  the  very  least 
to  an  altitude  of  25,000  metres  (82,000  ft.). 
Further,  the  one  which  attained  this  height 
was,  at  the  moment  of  its  disappearance,  at  a 
distance  of  80  kilometres  (49^  miles)  from  the 
observers.  So  remarkable  a  result  is  explained 
by  the  transparency  of  the  atmosphere  in  the 
Arctic  Regions,  a  transparency  which,  under 
other  circumstances,  permitted  us  to  follow 
distinctly  on  the  snow  of  a  glacier,  at  a  distance 
of  40  kilometres,  the  movements  of  a  party  of 
four  persons  whom  I  had  sent  on  a  mission  of 
exploration  in  the  interior  of  Spitsbergen." 

This  translucency  of  the  atmosphere  is  a 
well-known  character  of  the  Polar  Regions. 
Captain  Armitage  says,  when  the  Discovery 
was  off  Cape  Washington,  Victoria  Land,  "the 
atmosphere  was  exceedingly  clear,  as  may  be 
imagined  from  the  fact  that  we  could  plainly 
see  Coulman  Island  and  Mount  Erebus  at  the 
same  time,  although  they  are  240  miles  distant 
from  one  another."  In  Spitsbergen,  at  sea- 
level,  I  have  seen  the  mountains  on  the  south 
side  of  Bell  Sound  from  the  north  end  of  Prince 
Charles  Foreland  quite  clearly — a  distance  of 
100  miles  ;  and  I  could  quote  many  other  in- 
stances of  extraordinary  visibility.  The  only 
comparison  in  temperate  climates  is  from  moun- 
tain tops  :  from  the  summit  of  Ben  Nevis  I 


METEOROLOGY  215 

have  seen  at  one  time  the  Black  Isle  and  the 
waters  of  the  Moray  Firth,  the  Pentland  Hills 
(or  Arthur's  Seat),  Barra  Head  (100  miles 
distant),  and  the  coast  of  Ireland  (120  miles 
distant),  though  it  is  unlikely  that  one  could 
ever  see  Ben  Nevis  from  sea-level  at  Barra 
Head. 

"The  information  furnished  by  the  pilot 
balloons,  which  carry  no  instrument  because 
they  are  sacrificed,  concerns  questions  of  capital 
importance  for  meteorology — the  direction  and 
the  velocity  of  the  upper  currents.  Now  our 
pilot  balloons  of  1906  have  taught  us  that  there 
exist  in  the  Arctic  Regions  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  80th  parallel,  at  a  height  of  about 
13,600  metres  (44,600  ft.),  certain  winds  of 
60  metres  per  second  (132  miles  per  hour),  a 
force  of  which  we  have  no  equivalent  at  the 
surface  of  the  globe.  Their  direction  was 
S.  68°  W." 

The  Prince  of  Monaco  made  thirty  explora- 
tions of  the  high  atmosphere  in  the  Arctic 
Regions  in  the  vicinity  of  Spitsbergen  in 
1906,  and,  in  carrying  out  this  work,  added 
more  to  our  knowledge,  not  only  of  the 
meteorology  of  the  Arctic  Regions,  but  also  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  meteorology  of  the 
world  than  almost  any  recent  investigator. 
This  is  more  especially  the  case  because  before 
and  since  he  has  carried  out  further  exten- 


216  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

sive  exploration  of  the  upper  atmosphere 
in  the  North-east  Trades  and  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, which  can  be  correlated  with  the 
valuable  work  he  accomplished  in  the  Polar 
Regions. 


CHAPTER  IX 

MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES 

ALMOST  every  important  recent  Polar  expe- 
dition that  has  set  out  for  work  extending  over 
twelve  months,  has  laid  itself  out  to  make  a 
study  of  the  magnetic  conditions  either  of  the 
Arctic  or  Antarctic  Regions.  The  two  polar 
ships  that  have  been  specially  equipped  re- 
cently for  taking  magnetic  observations  on 
board  were  the  Discovery  and  the  Gauss,  upon 
which  large  sums  of  money  were  spent  to  secure 
a  special  area  of  the  ship  free  of  local  magnetic 
influences.  No  other  polar  ships  have  ever 
been  equipped  so  particularly  in  this  direc- 
tion, though  many  others,  notably  the  Erebus 
and  Terror  in  the  Antarctic  Regions,  did  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  magnetic  work.  Recently 
the  Carnegie  Institution  at  Washington  have 
fitted  out  a  magnificently  equipped  non-mag- 
netic sailing  ship,  the  Carnegie,  which  is  carrying 
out  work  of  the  highest  importance  in  the  form 
of  a  magnetic  survey  of  the  seas  of  the  world. 
Unfortunately  this  fine  ship  does  not  appear 
to  be  fitted  out  for  navigation  in  ice,  conse- 
quently this  important  survey  must  remain 
217 


218  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

incomplete  until  some  munificent  millionaire 
resolves  similarly  to  equip  and  endow  a  ship 
to  complete  the  work  by  carrying  out  a  sys- 
tematic magnetic  survey  of  the  seas  of  the  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  Regions. 

But  although  so  little  has  been  done  with 
regard  to  magnetism  in  polar  seas,  yet  a  very 
considerable  amount  has  been  done  in  polar 
lands.  All  the  recent  Antarctic  expeditions 
carried  out  magnetic  observations  on  land. 
The  station  set  up  by  the  Scottish  Expedition 
in  the  South  Orkneys  has  now  conducted 
observations  there  continuously  during  the 
last  eight  years,  thanks  to  the  energy  of  Mr. 
W.  G.  Davis  and  the  Government  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that 
Sir  James  Ross,  serving  under  his  uncle  Sir 
John  Ross,  was  the  first  to  take  magnetic 
observations  at  the  North  Magnetic  Pole,  in 
1831,  and  that  Mr.  D.  Mawson,  serving  under 
Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  was  the  first  to  take 
magnetic  observations  at  the  South  Magnetic 
Pole,  in  1909.  Though  it  is  a  matter  of  satis- 
faction to  have  the  British  flag  hoisted  in  both 
magnetic  poles  of  the  globe,  the  intrinsic  value 
of  the  observations  taken  there  is  not  very 
great  from  a  scientific  standpoint,  as  Mawson 
himself  points  out,  since  they  are  only  single 
isolated  observations,  but  the  good  series  of 
observations  that  Mawson  has  taken  in  the 


neighbourhood  of  the  South  Magnetic  Pole, 
as  well  as  those  of  Bernacchi,  are  of  the  highest 
possible  value.  Further  observations  in  circles 
round  about  the  approximate  point  of  each 
magnetic  pole  would  add  very  much  to  our 
knowledge  of  terrestrial  magnetism. 

Terrestrial  magnetism  is  altogether  a  most 
intricate  and  difficult  science,  but  it  is  per- 
fectly obvious  that  one  very  great  use  of  an 
intimate  study  of  this  subject  is  for  purposes 
of  navigation.  In  the  days  of  sailing  ships, 
the  finest  course  that  was  laid  till  recent  years 
was  to  a  quarter  of  a  point  or  nearly  three  degrees 
of  the  circle,  nowadays  no  steamer  of  any 
importance  steers  a  wider  course  than  one 
degree.  The  Mauretania,  for  instance,  Captain 
W.  T.  Turner  tells  me,  "is  steered  and  the 
course  set  to  degrees."  In  one  instance,  at 
least,  I  know  of  the  captain  of  one  liner  in- 
sisting on  an  accuracy  of  a  quarter  of  a  degree, 
the  helmsman  keeping  the  course  to  that  amount 
of  accuracy  by  means  of  a  magnifying  glass 
placed  over  the  compass  card.  With  fine 
courses,  such  as  those  that  are  necessary 
for  the  high  speeds  attained,  with  the  great 
value  of  these  modern  leviathans,  with  valu- 
able cargoes,  and  with  a  thousand  or  more 
human  beings  on  board,  it  will  be  seen  how 
important  an  accurate  knowledge  of  terrestrial 
magnetism  is. 


220  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

There  is  no  more  striking  or  wonderful  phe- 
nomenon in  the  Polar  Regions  than  the  aurora — 
Aurora  Borealis  in  the  north  and  Aurora  Aus- 
tralis  in  the  south.  Any  one  who  has  wintered 
in  the  Arctic  Regions  has  had  good  opportunity 
of  witnessing  the  aurora  in  all  its  splendour. 
It  is  not  unknown  in  Europe  during  the  dark 
winter  nights,  having  been  recorded  as  far 
south  even  as  Italy,  Spain  and  Portugal.  It 
cannot,  however,  be  regarded  as  a  common 
phenomenon  in  southern  Europe,  and  indeed 
does  not  become  frequent  until  one  reaches 
the  latitude  of  the  north  of  Scotland. 

"Loomis  and  Fritz,"  says  the  late  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Buchan,  "have  severally  investigated 
the  geographical  distribution  of  the  Aurora 
Borealis.  The  region  of  greatest  auroral  action 
is  an  oval-shaped  zone  surrounding  the  North 
Pole,  whose  central  line,  i.e.  the  more  or  less 
elliptical  line  halfway  between  the  northern 
and  southern  extension  of  the  zone,  crosses  the 
meridian  of  Washington  in  latitude  56°  and  the 
meridian  of  St.  Petersburg  in  latitude  71°. 
It  follows  from  this  that  aurorse  are  more  frequent 
in  North  America  than  in  the  same  latitudes 
in  Europe.  Loomis  points  out  that  this  auroral 
zone  bears  considerable  resemblance  to  a  mag- 
netic parallel  or  line  everywhere  perpendicular 
to  a  magnetic  meridian." 

"It  is  a  fact  of  the  greatest  significance  that, 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    221 

as  regards  geographical  distribution,  aurorae 
and  thunderstorms  are  complementary,  aurorae 
being  not  more  characteristically  of  polar  than 
thunderstorms  are  of  tropical  origin  ;  whereas 
thunderstorms  may  be  regarded  as  completely 
dissociated  from  magnetic  associations,  and 
their  periodicities  are  restricted  to  diurnal 
and  annual  variations"  ("Aurora  Borealis  or 
Northern  Lights,"  Chambers'  Encyclopedia,  1901). 
At  Ben  Nevis  Observatory  auroras  have 
been  frequently  recorded,  and  indeed  on  many 
occasions  there  are  very  remarkable  displays 
to  be  seen  from  the  summit  of  that  mountain. 
The  most  frequent  form  is  a  low  arch  of  more 
or  less  elliptical  form,  rising  not  many  degrees 
above  the  horizon  to  the  north-west.  On  more 
than  one  occasion  I  have  seen  perfect  coronas 
with  their  waving  bands  of  streamers  darting 
out  from  the  zenith  at  times  almost  to  the 
horizon.  All  the  displays  that  I  have  seen 
on  Ben  Nevis  had  the  streamers  lighted  with 
that  lurid  pale  yellowish-green  colour  that 
every  Arctic  explorer  is  familiar  with,  but  on 
one  occasion  at  least  there  were  mingled  with 
it  flashes  of  rosy  red,  which  passed  along  the 
living  bands.  In  Franz  Josef  Land  during 
the  winter  of  1896-97  there  were  specially  fine 
displays  of  auroras,  and  frequent  observations 
were  made  upon  them,  by  various  members 
of  the  expedition.  Annitage,  who  conducted 


222  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  magnetic  work,  found  that  the  declination 
of  the  magnetic  needle  was  disturbed  by  the 
presence  of  the  aurora. 

This  interesting  observation  was  by  no  means 
a  new  one,  for  in  1741  Celsius  and  Hiorter  noted 
for  the  first  time  the  simultaneity  of  the  Aurora 
Borealis  and  the  disturbances  in  magnetic 
declination.  From  1741  to  1747  Hiorter  re- 
corded forty-six  examples  of  this  coincidence. 
At  the  suggestion  of  Celsius,  Graham  made 
corresponding  observations  in  Britain,  and  it 
was  found  that  the  magnetic  disturbances  were 
synchronous  on  the  same  days  in  Sweden  and 
Britain.  These  observations  were  followed  up 
by  Wargentin,  Canton  and  Wilcke.  Wilcke 
found  that  every  time,  or  almost  every  time, 
there  was  a  magnetic  disturbance,  that  dis- 
turbance was  accompanied  by  a  display  of  Aurora 
Borealis  ;  but  the  inverse  was  not  found  to  be 
the  case,  that  is  to  say,  the  Aurora  Borealis 
might  be  observed  without  any  disturbance 
of  magnetic  declination  accompanying  it.  Be- 
tween 1771  and  1774  Wilcke  proved  that  the 
inclination  of  the  needle  was  also  affected  and 
that  the  centre  of  the  corona  corresponded 
with  the  magnetic  zenith. 

Humboldt,  in  1806,  discovered  that  there 
was  a  relationship  between  the  magnetic  force 
and  the  Aurora  Borealis.  In  1834  the  Mag- 
netic Association  founded  by  Gauss  and  Weber, 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND   TIDES    223 

and  the  stations  organised  by  Sabine  in  many 
British  colonies,  multiplied  examples  of  the 
relationship  of  aurorae  and  disturbances  in  the 
three  elements  of  terrestrial  magnetism,  viz., 
declination,  inclination,  and  intensity.  These 
observations  showed  at  the  same  time  the  ex- 
treme complexity  of  the  subject.  Some  of 
the  most  interesting  observations  that  have 
been  made  actually  within  the  Polar  Regions 
are  those  of  Weyprecht,  in  the  Tegetthof  expedi- 
tion to  Franz  Josef  Land.  Weyprecht  noted 
that  during  these  disturbances  the  declination 
needle  was  displaced  towards  the  east,  and 
that  the  horizontal  intensity  was  diminished 
and  the  vertical  intensity  increased.  Curiously, 
Parry  near  Melville  Island  and  Port  Bo  wen, 
not  far  from  the  Magnetic  Pole,  never  recorded 
any  relationship  between  displays  of  the  Aurora 
Borealis  and  the  movements  of  the  magnetic 
needle.  Ross,  on  the  other  hand,  obtained 
opposite  results  in  the  same  region,  while  M'Clin- 
tock  and  Kane's  observations  tend  to  confirm 
those  of  Parry.  No  relationship  between  these 
phenomena  appears  to  have  been  recorded  by 
the  British  expedition  of  1875-76. 

But  Armitage  says,  in  Franz  Josef  Land, 
"I  could  not  avoid  noticing  the  vagaries  of 
the  magnet,  and  attributing  them  to  the 
frequent  brilliant  displays  of  auroral  light 
which  held  us  entranced  during  our  stay  in 


224  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

the  ice-bound  North.  More  especially  did  the 
magnet  appear  to  be  affected  when  the  aurora, 
rising  in  massive,  thick  arches  from  the  east- 
ward, and  sending  up  streamers  of  beautifully 
coloured  light,  passed  rapidly  across  our  zenith 
and  disappeared  to  the  westward.  .  .  .  The 
magnet  would  oscillate  wildly  from  side  to  side, 
or  sometimes  sheer  rapidly  to  one  side  only, 
then  as  suddenly  behave  in  a  steady  and  normal 
manner."  Armitage  also  noted  that  the  most 
brilliant  air  effects  took  place  during  a  "furious 
gale"  or  a  "dead  calm." 

Buchan  has  pointed  out  that  "Lemstrb'm 
has  shown,  by  observations  and  experiments 
he  made  at  Sodankyla,  that  aurorse  are  due 
to  currents  of  positive  electricity  illuminating 
the  atmosphere  in  then*  passage  to  the  earth. 
Luminous  appearances  accompanied  the  setting 
in  of  a  current  towards  the  earth  from  the 
network  of  insulated  wires  with  which  he  over- 
spread the  top  of  Mount  Oratunturi,  and  this 
light  was  clearly  auroral,  giving  the  hitherto 
enigmatical  citron  line  of  Augstrom,  which 
is  the  invariable  constituent  of  aurora  radiations. 
Other  faint  and  indistinct  lines  are  enumerated 
as  present,  and  Lemstrom  is  of  opinion  that 
there  is  a  tolerable  agreement  between  some 
of  these  and  the  lines  in  the  laboratory  spectrum 
of  rarefied  air,  but  the  whole  subject  demands 
further  investigation." 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    225 

Various  theories  have  been  advanced  to 
account  for  the  occurrence  of  aurorse,  and  among 
others  has  been  suggested  that  the  phenomena 
is  due  to  the  presence  of  cosmic  dust.  This, 
however,  does  not  appear  to  be  at  all  likely  : 
in  all  probability  it  is  a  purely  electric  mag- 
netic phenomena.  It  seems  likely  that  the 
phenomena  occurs  in  other  planets  than  our 
own  :  it  is  known  that  the  obscure  hemisphere 
of  Venus  appears  to  be  often  illuminated,  and 
Winnecke  says  that  this  illumination  is  of  a 
greyish  violet  colour — in  this  connection  it 
is  interesting  to  note  that  these  illuminations 
in  Venus  were  especially  observed  during  the 
years  1721,  1726,  1759,  1796,  1806,  1825,  1865 
and  1871,  and  that  1726,  1759,  1865,  and  above 
all  1871,  were  notable  years  for  the  display 
of  the  Aurora  Borealis. 

One  of  the  earliest  theories  put  forward  was 
in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  in  an 
old  Norwegian  book  called  the  King's  Mirror, 
where  one  quaintly  reads,  "Some  people  think 
that  this  light  is  a  reflection  of  the  fires  which 
surround  the  seas  to  the  north  and  to  the  south  ; 
others  say  that  it  is  a  reflection  of  the  sun  when 
it  is  below  the  horizon  ;  I  think,  however, 
that  it  is  produced  by  the  ice  which  radiates 
during  the  night  the  light  that  it  has  absorbed 
during  the  day"  (Les  Aurores  Polaires,  by  A. 
Angot,  1895). 


226  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

The  displays  of  aurora  in  Franz  Josef  Land 
during  the  winter  1896-97  were  particularly 
brilliant  and  frequent.  The  usual  display  con- 
sisted of  a  series  of  waving  ribbon  bands  like 
muslin  frills,  composed  of  vertical  streamers 
in  continuous  motion,  the  streamers  appearing 
to  pass  with  varying  intensity  from  end  to  end 
of  these  flowing  ribbons  covering  almost  every 
point  of  the  sky  ;  every  now  and  then  the 
streamers  would  shoot  out  to  an  immense 
length  downwards  towards  the  earth  and  far 
upwards  towards  the  zenith,  forming  a  corona 
from  which  all  the  rays  that  filled  the  whole 
sky  appeared  to  originate.  This  coronal  ap- 
pearance is  probably  perspective  effect,  due 
to  the  enormous  length  of  the  shimmering 
rays.  The  general  display  of  colour  was  exactly 
the  same  as  has  been  described  at  Ben  Nevis 
Observatory,  but  much  more  intense,  and  cul- 
minating during  the  most  brilliant  periods 
with  flashes  of  emerald  green,  brilliant  crimson, 
and  delicate  violet  hues,  which  pass  from  end 
to  end  of  the  never-ending,  ever-intertwining 
ribbons.  It  can  scarcely  be  compared  with 
any  familiar  object  unless  it  be  to  an  imaginary 
ballet  in  the  sky,  where  the  figures  are  in  extraor- 
dinarily rapid  motion,  passing  in  continuous  pro- 
cession, one  ,  line  of  dancers  mingling  with 
another,  and  a  series  of  flashlights  of  different 
colours  passing  rapidly  across  the  tinselly  muslin 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    227 

drapery.  The  whole  effect  is  weirdly  beautiful, 
and  has  long  been  known  in  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland  by  the  very  fitting  name  of  the  "  Merry 
Dancers." 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  give  one  or  two 
quotations  from  my  diary  when  I  was  winter- 
ing in  Franz  Josef  Land.  On  January  1,  1897, 
my  log  runs,  "Auroras  have  been  fairly  fre- 
quent ;  I  have  not  seen  one  like  those  I  have 
seen  at  Ben  Nevis  in  Scotland,  where  you  get 
the  distinctive  arch  or  series  of  arches  with 
streamers  flowing  along  upward  and  darkness 
under  the  arch.  One  arch  I  have  seen  here, 
but  not  a  perfect  one,  about  six  weeks  ago. 
Within  the  dark  area  was  the  crescent  moon 
to  the  southward.  The  arch  at  each  end  was 
flattened,  or  rather  it  was  a  semi-ellipse  or 
such-like.  No  streamers  flowed  from  the  arch, 
it  was  rather  a  band  than  an  arch.  Here  (except 
where  there  are  simple  bands,  not  the  most 
general  form)  the  streamers  shoot  downwards 
from  the  zenith  and  dance  about  in  spiral 
waving  arrangement.  Sometimes  there  is  a 
break  between  the  lower  ends  of  the  streamers 
and  the  zenith,  but  still  the  streamers  seem  to 
continue  as  if  in  a  line  from  the  zenith  or  towards 
it."  Writing  on  January  6,  1897,  I  say  of 
the  3rd  of  January,  "although  there  was  fog 
and  slight  snow,  there  was  a  brilliant  aurora 
quite  lighting  up  the  scene.  A  very  distinct 


228  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

shadow  was  thrown  under  my  hand  when 
placed  5  or  6  inches  above  the  ground  (snow). 
I  have  often  seen  auroras  casting  shadows  here 
and  lighting  up  the  cliffs  brilliantly.  On  the 
evening  of  the  3rd,  at  times  streamers  came 
playing  brilliantly  through  the  fog  from  the 
zenith,  gambolling  round  and  looking  like 
brilliantly  illuminated  falling  snow.  The  gen- 
eral impression  I  have  received  is  that  bands 
and  collections  of  streamers  have  a  more  usual 
distribution  across  the  zenith  from  east  to  west, 
but  their  directions  are  very  varied." 

On  the  24th  of  January,  1897,  at  9  p.m.,  I 
record  "a  band  of  aurora  to-night  from  west- 
south-west  to  east,  throwing  up  streamers 
toward  the  zenith.  Curious  appearance  at  east 
end  being  broken  up  like  a  very  perfect  type 
of  fine  cirro-cumulus  cloud,  looking  as  if 
illuminated  by  brilliant  sun  to  the  south- 
south-west  ;  the  band  was  broad  and  appeared 
to  be  crossing  some  cirrus  clouds,  and  showed 
a  mottled  appearance.  Here  the  dark  portions 
were  obviously  due  to  cloud  and  aurora 
behind  them,  but  to  the  eastward  the  cirro- 
cumulus  sunlit  appearance  was,  I  believe, 
purely  auroral.  Wilton  saw  this,  to  whom  I 
pointed  it  out." 

"I  have,  on  moonlight  nights,  seen  aurora 
and  cirro-stratus — one  running  into  the  other 
imperceptibly,  not  being  able  to  tell  with  abso- 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    229 

lute  certainty  whether  it  were  cirro-stratus 
with  aurora  or  aurora  alone." 

Many  other  quotations  regarding  aurora  I 
have  observed  could  be  made,  but  these  three 
sum  up  many  characteristics  not  only  for 
Franz  Josef  Land  but  for  other  parts  of  the 
Polar  Regions — north  and  south. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  aurora  is  accom- 
panied by  a  crackling  sound,  but  although 
carefully  attentive  for  such  a  sound  none  of 
us  ever  heard  it  in  Franz  Josef  Land,  the  opinion 
at  the  time  being  that  such  crackling  sounds 
might  be  due  to  the  crackling  of  ice  and  snow 
during  an  aurora,  when  there  was  also  intense 
frost — the  sound  being  caused  by  the  frost, 
and  not  by  the  aurora. 

So  much  for  the  Aurora  Borealis  with  which 
every  one  who  has  wintered  in  the  far  north 
is  so  thoroughly  familiar.  There  is  a  different 
story  to  be  told  in  the  south,  where,  during 
the  two  cruises  and  the  wintering  of  the  Scotia 
not  a  single  Aurora  Australis  was  seen.  Neither 
do  the  Swedish  and  French  expeditions  appear 
to  have  seen  any  definite  displays  of  the  aurora. 
Dr.  Nordenskjold  writes  to  me,  saying,  "We 
never  did  see  any  display  of  aurora  at  all  during 
the  time  of  our  stay  in  the  South,  though  look- 
ing always  for  such."  Dr.  Charcot  says, 
"  During  both  my  expeditions,  1904  and  1909, 
we  had  once  in  1904  and  once  in  1909  some- 


230  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

thing  resembling  an  aurora,  extremely  faint, 
and  uncertain  if  they  had  not  been  accom- 
panied by  magnetic  perturbations.  We  had 
glares  of  pale  green,  which  might  have  been 
attributed  to  auroras,  but  I  really  do  not  think 
they  were.  The  two  auroras  showed  themselves 
in  the  S.E."  On  the  other  hand,  the  English 
expedition  in  MacMurdo  Sound  had  frequent 
displays  during  the  whole  time  the  Discovery 
wintered.  "On  the  whole  the  displays, 
although  very  frequent,  were  extremely  poor, 
and  were  generally  in  the  following  forms  :" 
(1)  Faint  lights  with  no  defined  forms.  (2) 
Luminous  patches,  which  frequently  presented 
the  appearance  of  clouds.  (3)  Incomplete 
arcs,  or  segments  of  arcs,  of  which  the  bril- 
liance was  not  uniform  nor  the  border  regular. 
From  these  arcs  rays  would  frequently  shoot 
up  intermittently.  (4)  Rays,  or  vertical  shafts, 
separated  from  each  other  at  a  greater  or  less 
distance,  frequently  described  as  streamers. 
(5)  In  one  or  two  exceptional  cases  irregular 
bands,  formed  of  rays  or  vertical  shafts,  pressed 
close  together  and  forming  "draped  aurorse." 

"The  faint  lines  and  luminous  patches  were 
of  the  most  varied  dimensions,  sometimes 
very  small  and  at  other  times  occupying 
almost  the  whole  of  the  eastern  (geographical) 
sky  ;  their  brilliancy  was  rarely  much  more 
intense  than  that  of  stars  of  the  4th  magni- 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    231 

tude,  or  even  the  Milky  Way.  They  formed, 
as  it  were,  a  white  veil  over  the  sky  through 
which  stars  of  small  magnitude  were  plainly 
visible.  A  clearly  defined  arc  formed  of  a 
homogeneous  luminous  mass  touching  the  hori- 
zon at  both  extremities,  was  rarely  seen." 

"  Spectroscopic  observations  of  the  aurorae 
were  not  successful,  due,  apparently,  to  the 
weak  intensity  of  the  light." 

"The  observations  of  atmospheric  electricity 
taken  during  the  displays  reveal  no  special 
effect  referable  to  the  aurora." 

"An  examination  of  the  journal  shows  that 
the  largest  number  of  aurorae  occur  during 
mid-winter  months,  June  and  July." 

Although,  on  the  whole,  the  displays  of  the 
aurora  seen  by  the  Discovery  were  extremely 
poor,  and  mostly  straw  colour,  faint  pink  and 
green  only  having  been  observed  on  a  very  few 
occasions,  Ross,  in  the  same  longitudes,  but 
farther  to  north,  had  brilliant  displays  on  more 
than  one  occasion  in  February  and  March  1841. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  get  a  comparison  of 
the  Aurora  Australis  and  Aurora  Borealis  by 
one  who  has  seen  brilliant  displays  of  both, 
and  in  this  connection  Captain  A.  B.  Armi- 
tage  writes  to  me,  saying,  "The  Aurora  Aus- 
tralia could  not  hold  a  candle  to  the  Aurora 
Borealis.  I  never  saw  colour  so  brilliant  in 
the  South  as  in  the  North  ;i  never  did  light 


232  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

emanate  from  the  auroral  arches  hovering 
over  Victoria  Land  cast  a  shadow  such  as  did 
the  flickering  streamers  and  coruscating  coronse 
of  Franz  Josef  Land.  In  the  North,  too,  I 
have  seen  the  auroral  light  between  me  and  a 
cliff  500  feet  high  and  only  100  yards  distant. 
I  have  seen  stars  of  the  third  magnitude 
eclipsed  by  it  and  the  moon's  light  pale  before 
it  ;  not  so  in  the  desolate  South." 

On  March  23rd,  Ross  says,  "Late  in  the 
evening  we  crossed  the  line  of  no  variation 
in  latitude  62°  0'  S.  and  longitude  135°  50'  E. 
At  7.20  p.m.  observed  a  bright  arch  of  the 
Aurora  Australis  west-north-west  and  east-south- 
east extending  across  the  zenith,  of  a  yellow 
colour,  its  edges  tinged  with  a  purple  line.  .  .  . 
The  lustre  of  the  larger  stars  was  much  dimmed 
as  it  passed  over  them,  but  they  could  be  dis- 
tinctly seen  through  it  ;  some  of  the  smaller 
stars  were  totally  obscured  by  the  brighter 
and  denser  portions  of  the  aurora  ;  this  splen- 
did display  was,  as  usual,  followed  by  a  fall 
of  snow." 

On  March  26th,  Ross  says,  "The  aurora 
again  afforded  us  a  considerable  light  at  night, 
in  the  absence  of  the  moon"  ;  and  again,  "On 
the  evening  of  the  27th  we  witnessed  a  most 
brilliant  exhibition  of  Aurora  Australis.  .  .  . 
Before  10  o'clock  bright  streamers  darted  up- 
wards from  the  cloud  to  the  zenith,  forming 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    233 

coronse,  and  exhibiting  bright  flashes  of  all 
the  prismatic  colours,  green  and  red  being 
the  more  frequent  and  conspicuous  ;  this 
aurora  had  much  motion,  darting  and  quiver- 
ing about  the  sky  in  rapid  flights,  and  in  every 
direction." 

Rather  in  contradiction  to  Buchan's  state- 
ment, Ross  records,  on  the  28th  of  March, 
that  "at  10  p.m.  a  single  flash  of  forked  light- 
ning was  seen  in  the  north-north-east  and  at 
the  same  time  an  arch  of  aurora  extended  across 
the  zenith  from  the  horizon  west-north-west 
and  east-south-east  ;  it  was  then  blowing  a 
strong  north-westerly  gale."  Again,  "The 
Aurora  appeared  in  great  brilliancy  during 
the  night  of  the  30th."  Buchan's  statement  is, 
however,  generally  speaking  correct,  this  being 
another  of  those  cases  illustrating  how  im- 
possible it  is  to  draw  hard-and-fast  lines  in 
nature. 

The  study  of  tides  is  an  important  part  of 
Polar  exploration,  and  their  study  in  Ant- 
arctic Regions  more  generally  useful  than  in 
the  Arctic  Regions,  for  in  the  Great  Southern 
Ocean  lie  the  original  tides  of  the  world. 

"The  Scotia  results,"  says  Sir  George  Darwin, 
"are  very  valuable  as  relating  to  the  only 
ocean  uninterrupted  by  land  throughout  the 
whole  circumference  of  the  globe,"  and  they 


234  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

acquire  much  importance  when  considered 
in  connection  with  the  very  abnormal  results 
obtained  by  the  Discovery. 

At  Scotia  Bay  "the  tides  seem  to  be  normal 
for  a  place  in  the  Southern  Ocean." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  results  of  tidal 
observations  taken  in  the  Antarctic  Regions, 
is  the  belief  expressed  by  Sir  George  Darwin 
(Proc.  Royal  Soc.,  A  vol.  84,  1910)  that  those 
observations  taken  during  Shackleton's  expedi- 
tion reveal  a  sea-seiche.  These  sea-seiches  are 
known  to  exist  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
and  have  been  specially  observed  in  many 
Japanese  bays  ;  but  Sir  George  Darwin  points 
out  that  in  none  of  the  examples  given  "has 
the  seiche  a  period  at  all  comparable  with 
that  of  which  we  have  reason  to  suspect  the 
existence  in  the  Antarctic  Sea,"  namely,  a  three- 
day  period.  From  these  observations  Darwin 
makes  a  "guess,"  and  says,  "I  guess  then  that 
the  bay  behind  the  (Ross)  barrier  stretches 
past  the  South  Pole  and  a  little  to  the  east 
of  it  as  far  as  latitude  80°.  Such  an  inlet 
would  have  a  length  of  25°  to  30°  of  latitude. 
"A  sea  of  from  100  to  150  fathoms  in  such  an 
immense  bay  as  has  been  conjectured  would 
oscillate  with  a  period  of  three  days,  and  the 
observed  results  are  seen  to  be  consistent  with 
the  existence  of  a  deep  inlet,  almost  or  quite 
cutting  the  Antarctic  continent  in  two." 


MAGNETISM,  AURORA,  AND  TIDES    235 

"Such  a  conclusion  is  interesting,  but  it 
would  not  be  right,"  Darwin  wisely  adds,  "to 
attribute  to  it  a  high  degree  of  probability, 
because  there  are  elements  of  uncertainty  on 
every  side."  Still  it  is  one  more  of  those  in- 
tensely interesting  Antarctic  problems  which 
emphasise  how  much  need  there  is  for  further 
Polar  exploration. 

Tidal  observations  were  taken  on  board  the 
Scotia  every  half-hour  from  March  25th  to 
November  23rd,  1903,  when  the  ship  was  frozen 
in  in  Scotia  Bay.  The  device  adopted  for 
recording  the  tides  was  a  simple  one.  A  heavy 
weight  with  an  attached  piece  of  sounding 
wire  was  lowered  over  the  ship's  side,  through 
a  hole  in  the  ice-floe  in  which  the  Scotia  was 
frozen,  to  the  bottom,  which  was  here  10  fathoms. 
This  wire  was  led  over  a  block  suspended  to 
a  davit,  and  at  the  end  of  the  wire,  on  board 
ship,  a  second  lighter  well-shaped  weight  with 
a  horizontal  base  was  attached,  and  was  sus- 
pended in  such  a  way  that  it  rose  and  fell  up 
and  down  the  face  of  a  wooden  scale.  The 
floe  in  which  the  Scotia  was  frozen  moved  with 
the  tide,  the  height  of  which  was  thus  shown 
by  the  position  of  the  movable  weight  on  the 
scale. 


CHAPTER  X 

AIMS  AND   OBJECTS   OF   MODERN   POLAR 
EXPLORATION 

THE  world  shrinks  and  now  there  are  few 
parts  of  the  globe  which  have  not  been  trav- 
ersed. 

I  say  purposely  traversed,  for  many  parts 
traversed  have  not  been  explored.  A  race 
across  Africa,  from  Paris  to  Pekin  on  a  motor 
car,  or  what  has  been  aptly  called  the  "boyish 
Pole  hunt,"  can  now  no  longer  be  regarded 
as  serious  exploration.  In  fact,  in  Polar  ex- 
ploration especially,  people  are  beginning  to 
see  the  comparative  uselessness  of  such  journeys, 
and  rarely  can  any  Polar  expedition  get  money 
unless  the  leader  announces  that  such  and  such 
scientific  investigations  are  to  be  made  by  a 
staff  of  experts,  and  that  such  and  such  scien- 
tific results  are  likely  to  accrue.  Yet  what 
the  mass  of  the  public  desire  is  pure  sensation- 
alism, therefore  the  Polar  explorer  who  attains 
the  highest  latitude  and  who  has  the  powers 
of  making  a  vivid  picture  of  the  difficulties 
and  hardships  involved  will  be  regarded  pop- 
ularly as  the  hero,  and  will  seldom  fail  to  add 
236 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  237 

materially  to  his  store  of  worldly  welfare  ;  while 
he  who  plods  on  an  unknown  tract  of  land  or 
sea  and  works  there  in  systematic  and  mono- 
graphic style  will  probably  not  have  such 
worldly  success,  unless  his  business  capacity 
is  such  as  to  allow  him  to  turn  to  his  advantage 
products  of  commercial  value  in  the  lands  and 
seas  he  has  been  exploring. 

The  general  rule,  however,  is  that  the  man 
of  science  opens  the  way  and  reveals  the 
treasures  of  the  unknown,  and  the  man  of 
business  follows  and  reaps  the  commercial 
advantage,  and  where  this  is  not  the  case  and 
the  man  of  science  takes  to  money-making, 
the  chances  are  that  the  world  has  rather  lost 
than  gained  by  his  transition.  It  is  right, 
therefore,  that  the  man  of  science  who  has 
not  the  time  or  the  inclination  to  devote  his 
life  to  the  gathering  of  gold  should  look  to  those 
who  have  this  for  their  chief  aim  in  life  to  sup- 
port him  in  investigations  of  the  unknown,  or 
to  those  who,  by  the  industry  of  their  ancestors, 
have  more  than  is  necessary  for  at  least  a  life 
of  comfort. 

In  the  face  of  these  facts  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  there  are  men  of  great  wealth  and 
of  no  narrow  interests  who  nevertheless  declare 
that  they  cannot  see  the  use  of  such  expeditions. 

Exactly  the  same  encouragement  that  Colum- 
bus received  more  than  four  centuries  ago  ! 


238  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Was  there  ever  a  more  madcap  expedition 
than  that  one  ?  A  veritable  nutshell  was  to 
sail  westward  into  the  unknown  and  was  to 
face  dangers  beyond  all  the  powers  of  human 
conception. 

If  there  is  not  wealth  equal  to  that  of  the 
New  World  of  Christopher  Columbus,  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  very  great  wealth 
does  not  exist  in  the  Polar  Regions,  consider- 
ing the  increased  power  given  to  man  by  the 
advancement  of  science,  which  is  constantly 
showing  new  ways  and  means  for  discovering 
and  making  use  of  Nature's  resources. 

So  far  I  have  been  trying  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion which  the  Polar  explorer  constantly  gets 
asked  him  by  the  business  man  who  has  not 
had  any  scientific  training,  viz.  :  What  is 
the  use  of  these  Polar  expeditions  ?  If  the 
sole  aim  is  to  reach  the  North  or  the  South 
Pole,  or  to  get  nearer  to  it  than  any  one  has 
been  before,  the  answer  must  be  that  it  is  of 
little  value  either  to  science  or  commerce.  That 
is  the  accomplishment  of  an  athletic  feat  only 
to  be  carried  out  by  those  who  have  splendid 
physical  development.  But  if  it  refers  to  ex- 
peditions well  equipped  with  every  means  for 
the  scientific  survey  of  a  definite  section  of  the 
world — be  it  land  or  sea — then  the  answer  is 
different.  To  add  to  the  store  of  human  knowl- 
edge means  increased  power  of  adding  to  human 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  239 

comfort.  It  also  means  making  another  step 
into  the  forever  unfathomable  unknown,  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  scientific  explorer  as  a 
pioneer  to  investigate  a  definite  area  of  the  un- 
known with  a  staff  of  competent  specialists. 

Modern  Polar  exploration  must  be  conducted 
in  this  manner.  Having  decided  whether  one's 
energies  are  to  be  applied  to  the  Arctic  or  Ant- 
arctic Regions,  the  explorer  has  to  make  up  his 
mind  whether  it  be  land  or  sea  that  he  is  about 
to  explore,  and,  having  determined  that,  and 
being  well  acquainted  with  the  literature  of 
his  subject,  and  having  had  previous  practical 
training  in  the  work  he  is  about  to  undertake, 
he  chooses  his  definite  area.  It  may  be  a  large 
or  a  small  area.  It  may  be  one  that  has  been 
previously  traversed  and  of  which  a  hazy  idea 
may  be  had.  It  may  be  over  lands  untrodden 
by  the  foot  of  man  or  seas  as  yet  unfathomed. 
Suppose  it  is  a  detailed  investigation  of  the 
North  Polar  Basin.  The  explorer  must  first 
have  a  good  ship,  built  somewhat  on  the  lines 
of  the  Scotia  or  Fram,  for  resisting  and  evading 
ice  pressure,  and,  following  the  idea  of  Nansen's 
drift,  he  will  sail  for  the  Behring  Straits,  making 
his  base  of  departure  British  Columbia  or  Japan. 
Then  working  northward  as  far  as  possible 
through  the  pack  ice,  the  ship  will  eventually 
be  beset  firmly  in  the  autumn  or  even  earlier, 
and,  if  she  be  of  the  right  build,  with  safety. 


240  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Now,  as  far  as  the  ship  is  concerned,  she  must 
be  made  snug  for  the  winter,  and  she  becomes 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  house  for  the  next 
three,  or  may  be  four,  years.  She  will  drift 
right  across  the  North  Polar  Basin,  and  will 
emerge  from  the  Polar  pack  somewhere  be- 
tween Greenland  and  Spitsbergen.  The  proba- 
bility is  that  she  will  pass  almost  if  not  right 
through  the  position  of  the  North  Pole.  But 
all  this  may  be  counted  worthless  if  there  is 
not  complete  and  thorough  equipment  of  men, 
instruments,  and  other  material  for  scientific 
investigation.  The  expedition  must  be  for  the 
thorough  examination  of  the  Polar  Basin — 
that  is,  it  must  be  an  expedition  fitted  out  pri- 
marily for  oceanographical  research.  The  leader 
of  the  expedition  should  be  a  scientific  man, 
and  should  certainly  be  one  who  has  gained 
knowledge  by  having  carried  on  scientific  re- 
search in  one  or  more  departments  in  the  service 
of  some  previous  expedition.  He  must  also 
be  practically  acquainted  with  the  handling 
of  an  oceanographical  ship.  Without  such  ex- 
perience, be  he  landsman  or  seaman,  failure 
must  be  the  result. 

The  scientific  staff  must  include  well-trained 
men  able  to  organise  the  work  of  their  various 
departments  under  the  co-ordination  of  the 
leader.  Astronomy  ;  meteorology,  including  an 
investigation  of  the  higher  atmosphere  by  means 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  241 

of  balloons  and  kites,  as  well  as  sea-level  ob- 
servations ;  magnetism  ;  ocean  physics,  includ- 
ing an  investigation  of  currents,  temperature, 
specific  gravity  at  all  depths  from  the  surface 
to  the  bottom  ;  bathymetry,  including  a  com- 
plete study  of  the  shape  of  the  floor  of  the  Polar 
Basin  ;  geology,  especially  a  study  of  the  nature 
of  the  bottom  ;  biology,  an  investigation  of 
every  living  thing,  those  animals  that  live  on 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  those  who  swim  on  or 
near  the  surface  or  in  intermediate  depths — 
in  short,  benthoic,  planktonic  and  nektonic 
research  ;  a  study  of  the  algae  and  animals  that 
may  be  found  in  association  with  the  ice  itself, 
as  well  as  an  investigation  of  every  animal 
or  plant  above  the  surface  of  the  ocean.  Six 
or  eight  scientific  men  would  not  be  too  few  to 
form  the  scientific  staff,  and  they  must  be  pro- 
vided with  at  least  two  laboratories,  a  scientific 
storeroom,  and  photographic  room.  The  leader 
himself  being  well  acquainted  with  conditions 
of  work  in  the  Polar  Regions,  it  is  not  essential 
that  the  scientific  staff  should  be,  but  it  would 
be  an  advantage  that  his  chief-of-staff  had 
some  ice  experience,  and  that  he  should  be  able 
to  take  up  the  reins  in  the  event  of  the  serious 
illness  or  death  of  the  leader.  The  scientific 
side  of  the  ship  should  be  separate  from  the 
nautical,  and  the  leader  must  be  the  inter- 
mediary and  guiding  hand  for  both.  The 


242  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

master  of  the  ship  must  be  subject  to  the  leader, 
and  the  crew  entirely  responsible  to  the  master, 
the  leader  strongly  supporting  the  master  in 
this  position.  It  is  questionable  how  far  com- 
mercial advantage  would  be  derived  from  such 
an  expedition,  probably  none  immediately, 
though  almost  certainly  some  to  a  future  gen- 
eration if  not  to  OUT  own.  But  the  increase 
of  human  knowledge  by  the  thorough  survey 
of  a  definite  area  of  our  globe  in  a  systematic 
manner  is  sufficient  to  warrant  such  an  expedi- 
tion being  carried  out. 

This  is  the  chief  piece  of  work  (hi  the  North 
Polar  Regions)  that  remains  to  be  done  on  an 
extensive  scale,  and  which  must  extend  over  a 
long  period  of  time  without  a  break,  and  it  is 
understood  that  this  forms  more  or  less  the 
programme  of  Captain  Amundsen,  who  left 
Norway  in  1910,  although  by  telegrams  received 
on  the  outward  voyage  of  the  Fram,  which  is 
his  ship,  it  appears  doubtful  whether  he  is  not 
going  to  confine  his  attentions  to  the  Antarctic 
Regions  instead  !  But  there  is  much  Arctic 
work  to  be  done  in  other  directions,  such  as, 
for  instance,  the  work  that  the  Prince  of  Monaco 
has  been  carrying  on  in  the  exploration  of  the 
upper  atmosphere,  or  the  detailed  survey  of 
a  definite  area  of  land  or  sea,  and  general  ocean- 
ographical  research  ;  also  such  detailed  survey 
work  as  has  been  carried  out  by  the  three 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  243 

Scottish  Expeditions  during  the  years  1906, 
1907,  1909,  in  Prince  Charles  Foreland.  (See 
Scottish  Geographical  Magazine,  vol.  xxii,  1906, 
p.  385  ;  vol.  xxiii,  1907,  pp.  141-156,  319,  490.) 
This  island,  about  54  miles  long  and  about 
6  miles  wide,  forms  a  considerable  part  of  the 
west  coast  of  the  archipelago  of  Spitsbergen. 
Prince  Charles  Foreland,  named  after  Charles, 
son  of  James  VI  of  Scotland,  has  been  known 
to  exist  for  more  than  300  years,  yet  there  has 
been  practically  complete  ignorance  of  its 
form,  geology,  fauna  and  flora.  Ships  pass- 
ing fear  to  approach  its  coasts  on  account  of 
unknown  and  often  imaginary  dangers.  Sci- 
ence demanded  thorough  investigation  of  this 
unknown  land,  and  some  have  been  trying 
to  satisfy  this  demand  of  the  world  of  science. 
What  is  the  result  ?  Already,  before  the  work 
is  complete,  commerce  has  followed  on  the 
heels  of  science,  and  before  the  Scots  left  the 
island  in  1907,  Norwegian  hunters  set  up 
three  houses  for  the  winter.  The  Scottish 
Expedition  carried  on  a  considerable  amount 
of  local  hydrographic  work,  especially  in  Foul 
Sound  and  in  the  vicinity  of  some  of  the  an- 
chorages, and  now  ships  can  approach  with 
greater  safety  the  coasts  of  this  previously 
unknown  land,  which,  until  recently,  they 
have  justly  feared  so  much.  Many  other  in- 
stances of  work  of  this  kind  could  be  quoted 


244  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

that  have  been  carried  on  during  recent  years 
and  is  still  being  continued.  Leigh  Smith, 
Baron  Nordenskjold,  Nansen,  Nathorst,  the 
Prince  of  Monaco,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and 
Amundsen  may  be  numbered  among  others 
as  pioneers  of  systematic  scientific  research  in 
the  Arctic  Regions. 

It  would  be  of  interest  to  take  the  chart  of 
the  Arctic  Regions  and  to  enumerate  the  differ- 
ent parts  that  yet  remain  to  be  explored — 
their  name  is  legion.  The  Beaufort  Sea,  and  the 
islands  and  channels  to  the  north  of  the  Ameri- 
can continent,  offer  especially  a  splendid  field 
for  topographical,  hydrographical,  biological, 
geological  and  other  research.  Much  valuable 
work  is  to  be  accomplished  by  a  series  of  sta- 
tions set  up  in  strategic  places  for  biological 
research,  and  the  same  may  be  said  for  mag- 
netism and  meteorology — especially  if  associated 
with  investigation  of  the  higher  atmosphere. 
Denmark  deserves  great  credit  for  recently 
setting  up  a  biological  station  in  Davis  Strait 
in  the  manner  here  indicated.  This  has  been 
accomplished  by  the  generosity  of  Justice  A. 
Hoek,  and  is  backed  up  by  an  annual  grant 
of  £600  from  the  Danish  Government  towards 
its  maintenance  (Scottish  Geographical  Magazine, 
vol.  xxi,  No.  2,  1905  ;  No.  5,  1905  ;  vol.  xxii, 
No.  4,  1906).  Similar  stations  could  with  little 
difficulty  be  set  up  in  Spitsbergen,  Franz  Josef 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  245 

Land,  Novaya  Zemlya,  and  possibly  also  in 
Jan  Mayen,  East  Greenland,  and  the  shores 
of  northern  Canada  and  Siberia.  This  form 
of  research  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  forms 
of  exploration  yet  to  be  accomplished.  The 
station  should  in  each  case  be  provided  with 
a  moderate-sized  steam  or  motor  launch. 

Now,  turning  our  attention  to  the  South 
Polar  Regions,  we  find  the  most  interesting 
field  in  the  world  for  exploration,  especially 
with  modern  methods.  Almost  everything 
south  of  40°  S.  requires  thorough  investiga- 
tion and  overhauling,  and  vast  stores  of  informa- 
tion are  to  be  gathered  both  from  sea  and  land. 
And  let  us  not  neglect  too  much  the  sea,  more 
especially  since  we  are  a  sea-faring  and  sea- 
loving  nation.  The  pride  and  glory  of  our 
past  is  largely  due  to  the  intrepidity  and  alertness 
of  our  seamen.  Yet  with  all  this,  not  only 
the  public  generally,  but  even  many  scientific 
people  think  much  more  of  an  accidental  dis- 
covery of  land  than  of  any  amount  of  hard, 
plodding  work  carried  on  at  sea.  So  much 
so  that  if  an  expedition  investigates  150  miles 
of  unknown  land  it  is  said  to  have  made 
"important  geographical  discoveries,"  whereas, 
if  it  investigate,  with  equal  if  not  greater  detail, 
150  miles  of  unknown  sea,  it  will  be  said  that 
the  expedition  made  "no  geographical  dis- 
coveries." The  reason  is  that,  especially  in 


246  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Britain,  few  people  really  appreciate  a  map, 
so  notoriously  bad  is  the  teaching  of  geography 
and  so  little  is  it  encouraged.  The  ordinary 
atlas  simply  paints  a  blue  colour  over  the  surface 
of  the  sea,  and  will  give  for  its  series  of  special 
maps  political  land  areas,  and  these  even  with- 
out any  interpretation  of  the  "why"  and  the 
"wherefore."  In  these  maps  care  is  taken 
to  omit  as  much  of  the  sea  as  possible  com- 
patible with  a  certain  rectangular  space,  and  the 
sea  that  is  shown  is  merely  a  meaningless  pale 
blue  wash.  Scarcely  any  attempt  whatever 
is  made  to  show  whether  these  stretches  of 
sea  are  deep  or  shallow,  clear  or  muddy,  brown 
or  blue,  rough  or  smooth  ;  there  are  few  in- 
dications of  currents — tidal  or  otherwise.  In 
many  ways,  in  spite  of  an  increasing  number 
of  scientific  ships  sailing  over  the  ocean,  we 
tend  not  only  to  care  less  and  less  about  the 
sea,  but  actually  in  some  ways  to  know  less 
about  it.  To  the  great  20,000-ton  leviathan 
going  twenty  to  twenty-five  knots,  weather 
conditions,  currents,  etc.,  of  vital  importance 
to  smaller  and  less  powerful  craft  are  of  little 
significance — these  monsters  race  through  every- 
thing. The  thousands  of  passengers  in  these 
ships  make  a  voyage  and  know  no  more  about 
the  sea  over  which  they  have  travelled  than 
if  they  had  been  staying  in  a  palatial  hotel 
ashore.  In  these  days  ships  go  on  definite 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  247 

tracks  and  repeat  their  voyage  year  after  year 
over  exactly  the  same  narrow  belt  of  sea  ;  those 
on  board  know  nothing  of  the  ocean  outside 
that  belt  of  30  miles  in  breadth.  In  the  old 
days  sailing  vessels  were  driven  hundreds  and 
even  thousands  of  miles  off  direct  tracks,  and 
saw  actually  much  more  than  we  do  nowadays, 
especially  since  the  vessels  were  slower  and 
smaller,  and  the  surface  of  the  sea  more  readily 
accessible  to  those  on  board.  Thus  the  stories 
of  great  sea  monsters  might  not  be  so  fabulous 
as  supposed,  though  those  in  small  craft  and  with- 
out scientific  training  might  possibly  get  a  some- 
what exaggerated  idea  of  their  size  and  shape. 

In  the  Antarctic  and  subantarctic  Regions 
great  opportunities  present  themselves  both 
for  a  study  of  the  sea  and  the  land,  and  to  the 
writer's  mind  it  is  a  study  of  the  subantarctic 
and  then  Antarctic  seas  that  is  at  present  most 
urgent,  including  an  exploration  and  definition 
of  the  southern  borders  of  those  seas. 

I  say,  designedly,  the  southern  borders  of 
those  seas,  and  not  the  outline  of  Antarctica 
or  the  coast-line  of  the  Antarctic  Continent, 
because  it  is  from  the  oceanographical  stand- 
point that  I  believe  we  should  make  this  attack 
in  the  first  place  and  to  a  much  larger  extent 
than  heretofore.  The  early  navigators  attacked 
the  south  in  this  manner,  and,  more  recently, 
with  modern  scientific  methods,  the  Challenger, 


248  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

Valdivia,  Belgica,  Scotia  and  Pourquoi-pas  ?. 
Only  the  last  three  vessels  have  done  serious 
biological  and  physical  work  south  of  the  Ant- 
arctic Circle,  and  the  Scotia  alone  in  the  great 
depths  in  very  high  southern  latitudes. 

More  than  anything  that  is  required  is  a 
new  expedition  on  the  same  lines  as  the  Scotia, 
and  the  author  is  ready  to  organise  such  an 
expedition  as  soon  as  funds  are  provided.  Such 
an  expedition  should  be  provided  with  one 
ship  of  about  250  to  300  tons  register,  and  should 
carry  a  complement  of  about  thirty-six  men, 
including  six  men  of  science.  The  vessel  must 
be  provided  with  all  the  most  modern  oceano- 
graphical  equipment,  and  must  be  prepared 
to  work  in  depths  exceeding  3,000  fathoms. 
A  definite  area  must  be  selected,  and  I  should 
choose  for  the  new  Scottish  Expedition,  which 
hopes  to  set  sail  in  1912,  the  region  south  of 
40°  S.  in  the  South  Atlantic  Ocean,  avoiding 
the  tracks  of  the  Scottish  National  Antarctic 
Expedition  in  1902-04,  but  complementing  and 
supplementing  the  Scotia  explorations.  A  suit- 
able base  from  which  to  commence  operations 
is  Buenos  Aires.  A  start  from  there  should 
be  made  in  the  early  spring — say  not  later 
than  August  1st — a  zigzag  course  under  sail 
could  then  be  steered  between  latitudes  40° 
S.  and  55°  S.,  a  visit  to  Gough  Island  and 
the  other  islands  of  the  Tristan  d'Acunha 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  249 

Group  being  included  ;  a  double  or  treble  line 
of  soundings,  with  a  regular  series  of  physical 
observations  at  each  station,  should  be  made, 
and  the  trawl  should  be  lowered  two  or  three 
times  every  week.  No  haste  is  required  on 
this  voyage  ;  the  vessel  would  be  going  before 
the  westerly  winds  under  sail  the  whole  time, 
coal  being  husbanded  for  handling  the  vessel 
during  sounding,  trawling,  etc.  Cape  Town 
would  be  the  first  port  of  call,  and  thus  a  belt 
of  1,000  miles  in  width,  over  3,500  miles  in 
length  would  be  covered,  where  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  some  soundings  and  trawlings  made 
by  the  Scotia  in  1904)  no  oceanographical  work 
has  been  done  at  all.  Whilst  crossing  the 
"Scotia  Rise,"  which  the  Scottish  Expedition 
discovered  as  an  extension  of  the  Mid-Atlantic 
rise  1,000  miles  farther  to  the  south,  it  would 
be  interesting  and  important  to  attempt  by 
means  of  grippers  to  obtain  samples  of  the 
rocks  in  situ  of  which  this  rise  is  built.  At 
Cape  Town  all  the  scientific  material  and  the 
first  copy  of  the  scientific  logs  should  be  sent 
home  in  case  of  accident  to  the  ship  in  her 
second  voyage,  a  precaution  that  should  always 
be  taken  by  every  expedition.  The  ship  and 
all  her  gear  would  be  thoroughly  overhauled, 
and  she  would  be  filled  up  with  coal  and  pro- 
visions. Her  next  course  would  be  for  the 
South  Sandwich  Group,  and  an  arrangement 


250  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

should  be  made  for  a  vessel  with  coal  and  fresh 
food  to  meet  her  there.  Here  the  special 
object  is  to  carry  on  the  bathymetrical  survey 
in  the  region  where  opinion  is  divided  as  to 
whether  deep  or  relatively  shallow  water  exists, 
namely,  that  portion  cautiously  marked  in 
the  Scottish  chart  (Scottish  Geographical  Maga- 
zine, vol.  xxi,  1905,  pp.  402-412)  lying  between 
the  south  end  of  the  "Scotia  Rise"  and  the 
Sandwich  Group.  This  is  of  vital  importance 
in  the  study  of  continental  connections.  A 
short  time  would  be  spent  in  the  South  Sand- 
wich Group,  especially  with  a  view  of  obtaining 
a  knowledge  of  the  geology  and  natural  history 
of  the  islands.  Having  filled  up  with  coal, 
a  cruise  eastward  to  Bouvet  Island  should  be 
made  to  determine  more  definitely  whether 
or  no  there  is  a  "rise  connection"  between 
the  Sandwich  Group  and  that  island,  and  also 
with  the  south  end  of  the  "Scotia  Rise."  From 
Bouvet  Island  a  southerly  course  should  be 
steered  towards  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
Biscoe  Sea  and  a  thorough  connection  made 
between  the  Valdivia  and  Scotia  bathymetrical 
surveys.  In  March  it  would  be  necessary  to 
decide  whether  the  expedition  was  to  winter 
in  the  south,  but  in  no  circumstances,  if  it  can 
possibly  be  avoided,  should  the  ship  winter. 
She  is  there  for  oceanographical  research,  and 
must  not  be  turned  into  a  harbour  hulk.  Acci- 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  251 

dents  will  happen,  and  she  might  be  beset  and 
forced  to  winter,  for  which  she  must  be  thor- 
oughly prepared.  But  if  there  is  a  wintering, 
it  should,  if  possible,  be  by  a  party  of  about 
half-a-dozen  men  in  a  house  on  shore. 

This  project  for  Antarctic  exploration  does 
not  lend  itself  in  the  least  to  the  attainment 
of  a  high  latitude.  It  is  almost  certain,  in 
fact,  that  the  ship  in  question  would  not  pass 
the  75th  parallel  of  latitude,  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  it  would  pass  little  beyond 
70°  S.,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  for  systematic 
serious  scientific  work,  this  would  be  one  of  the 
most  profitable  forms  of  Antarctic  exploration 
that  we  could  undertake.  A  single  example 
is  again  taken  of  what  is  to  be  done  in  Antarctic 
seas,  but  it  might  be  pointed  out  that  half-a- 
dozen  ships  doing  this  same  work  in  similar 
but  different  areas  all  round  the  South  Pole 
would  all  obtain  results  of  the  highest  importance. 

As  regards  land  work  in  the  Antarctic  Regions, 
this  can  be  undertaken  more  satisfactorily 
after  we  have  obtained  a  more  definite  idea 
of  the  confines  of  the  Great  Southern  Ocean 
around  Antarctica.  At  present  there  is  too 
much  hazy  conjecture,  and  we  find  what  one 
believes  to  be  part  of  Antarctica  itself  another 
declares  to  be  an  island.  But  the  land  work 
has  begun,  and  to  the  keen  landsman  there  is 
no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  going  ahead. 


252  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

In  the  past  the  splendid  land  journeys  of  Scott 
and  Armitage  have  given  us  the  first  definite 
idea  of  the  interior  of  Antarctica,  and  Shackleton 
has  been  able  to  make  further  most  important 
additions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  interior  of 
the  Antarctic  continent.  Similar  inland  as  well 
as  shore  expeditions,  such  as  that  suggested 
by  Dr.  Forbes  Mackay  (Geographical  Journal, 
January  1911),  should  be  made  at  many  points 
all  round  the  Antarctic  continent,  but  any 
expedition  of  this  kind  must  necessarily  have 
a  good  base  station  and  be  supported  by  a  ship. 
The  retention  of  a  ship  at  the  base  is  entirely 
unnecessary,  though,  as  indicated  previously, 
ice  conditions  might  unwillingly  entrap  the 
vessel,  in  which  case  she  must  be  properly  pre- 
pared for  wintering. 

Valuable  land  work  could  be  carried  out 
by  a  party  accompanying  this  expedition  to 
the  Weddell  and  Biscoe  Seas.  Here  the  coast- 
line of  Antarctica  will  probably  be  found  to 
lie  somewhere  between  70°  S.  and  75°  S.  and 
to  run  in  a  more  or  less  east  and  west  direction. 
Having  found  a  suitable  anchorage,  and  the 
house  being  set  up  with  a  complete  establish- 
ment for  meteorology,  magnetism,  biology,  and 
other  scientific  investigations,  the  party  would 
make  inland  excursions  towards  the  south. 
Should  there  be  sufficient  funds,  it  would  be 
well  to  have  a  second  ship  for  the  express  pur- 


AIMS  AND  OBJECTS  253 

pose  of  carrying  an  extra  supply  of  stores  and 
a  house,  rather  than  lumber  up  the  oceano- 
graphical  ship  with  all  this  material.  If  the 
lie  of  the  land  be  found  to  be  as  expected,  a 
serious  attempt  would  be  made  to  cross  the 
Antarctic  Continent  and  to  emerge  somewhere 
along  the  coast  of  the  Ross  Sea,  the  journey 
being  made  more  or  less  along  the  meridian  of 
Greenwich  on  the  Atlantic  side,  and  continuing 
on  about  the  180th  meridian  on  the  Pacific 
side.  Such  a  journey  would  be  of  more  in- 
trinsic value  than  a  journey  towards  the  South 
Pole  and  back.  It  would  give  a  complete  sec- 
tional idea  of  the  continent  of  Antarctica,  and 
the  expedition  would  never  be  covering  the  same 
ground  a  second  time.  This  is  a  big  project, 
and  one  would  have  to  face  the  chances  of 
failure,  but  it  ought  to  be  attempted.  Already 
England  and  Japan  are  in  the  field,  and  Ger- 
many and  Australia  are  ready  to  start,  and  it 
is  hoped  that  Scotland  once  more  will  shortly 
be  enabled  to  join  hands  in  co-operative  ex- 
ploration to  the  Antarctic  Regions.  Shackleton 
and  Scott  have  wisely  led  the  way  by  actually 
trying  motor  power,  which  the  author  has  been 
advocating  for  many  years,  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  such  a  journey.  It  is  an  experiment  ; 
it  may  fail,  but  it  is  more  likely  to  succeed, 
and  even  if  it  fails  it  will  be  one  step  in  advance 
towards  the  use  of  motor  power  in  future  Polar 


254  POLAR  EXPLORATION 

expeditions.  All  such  pioneer  attempts  must 
take  their  chance  of  success  or  failure  in  a  new 
application  given  to  us  by  the  advance  of  science. 

This  area,  where  Bellingshausen  and  Biscoe 
almost  a  century  ago  have  alone  given  us  a  clue, 
strengthened  by  the  investigations  of  Ross  and 
of  the  Scotia,  offers  an  especially  fine  field  for 
meteorological  and  magnetical  research.  This 
is  because  of  the  systematised  series  of  meteor- 
ological stations  which  exist  to  the  north-west- 
ward of  the  region  right  up  to  the  South  Ameri- 
can continent — thanks  to  the  efforts  of  the  Scotia 
and  of  the  energetic  Argentine  Republic  that 
has  backed  up  and  continued  the  work  of  that 
expedition.  Such  an  expedition  will  give  a 
very  complete  idea  of  the  meteorology  and  mag- 
netism of  the  South  Polar  Regions  in  all  western 
longitudes,  and  in  meteorology  especially  is 
required  a  systematic  and  synchronous  series 
of  observations  such  as  are  here  indicated. 

The  world  shrinks,  but,  after  all,  this  is  only 
from  the  point  of  view  of  those  who  do  not 
look  into  futurity.  Each  scientific  investiga- 
tion leads  to  the  discovery  of  new  scientific 
facts  and  problems  not  only  unknown,  but 
often  entirely  unconceived.  Newer  and  wider 
fields  for  investigation  will  offer  themselves 
in  the  future  than  in  the  past  ;  rather,  then, 
should  we  say,  the  world  expands  ! 


INDEX 


ADELIE  Land,  23 

Amundsen,  Captain  Roald.  166, 170. 
242 

Animals,  land,  absence  of,  In  Ant- 
arctic, 109-110 

Antarctic  Regions,  extent  of,  15, 17- 
18,  32,  93;  coasts  of,  19,  22-23; 
connection  with  adjacent  contl- 
nenta,  20-22,  125-127,  173;  con- 
tinental character  of,  197.  234- 
235;  former  climate  of,  126-127; 
Interior  of,  19 

Atmosphere,  transparency  of,  214- 
215 

Aurora,  220-233 

Bacteria,  85-87 

Balloons  for  meteorological  pur- 
poses, 210-216 

Barents  Sea.  166,  170,  201,  203 

Bathymetrlcal  survey,  169-176, 195- 
196 

Bay  Ice,  54-56 

Bear.  Polar,  74-76,  111-116 

Beardmore  Glacier,  39-43 

Beaufort  Sea,  244 

Ben  Nevis  Observatory,  193-194, 
215,  221 

Blpolarlty,   147-148 

Birds  In  Antarctic,  137-146;  In 
Arctic,  134-137 

Black  Ice,  56 

Black  snow,  83 

Blue  mud,  173,  191-192 

Brown,  Dr.  Robert,  79,  130 

Brown,  Dr.  R.  N.  Kudmose,  78,  91- 
95 

Buchan,  Dr.  Alex,  224,  233 

Buchanan,  J.  Y.,  38,  70,    182-185 

Burn,  Murdoch,  W.  G.,  29 

Cape  pigeon.  142-144 

Challenger,  51-62. 149, 171-172, 175, 

182-185,  186,  190 
Charcot,  Dr.  Jean,  20,  81,  90,  94, 

165,  198,  229-230 
Coats,  Major  Andrew,  166,  170 
Coats  Land,  19,  23-25,  172,  186, 196 
Cook,  Captain  James,  42 
Currents,  cold,  182-190;  warm,  180- 

184. 187.    See  alto  Ocean  currents. 

Deeps,  ocean,  172-173,  175 
Density  of  sea-water,  176-178 
Deposits  of  aea  bottom,  190-192 


Diatoms  of  sea,  77-80,  159-160;  on 

Ice,  76-77;  ooze,  80,  190-192 
Discoloured  Ice,  74-77 
Dredging  In  Antarctic,  151-152 
Driftwood  In  Arctic,  85-92 
Drygalskl,  Dr.  von,  23 

Edward  Land,  37 
Emperor  penguin,  137-138 
Enderby  Land,  19,  24,  151 
Equipment  for  expeditions,  110 
Expedition,    organisation    of,  239- 

242.  248-251 

Exploration,  alms  of,  236-254 
Exploration  of  sea.  Importance  of, 

169,  245-247 

Fauna,  characteristics  of  marine,  89 
Fauna   of   Antarctic   and   relations 

with  other  faunas,   148 
Ferns  In  Antarctic,  94 
Field  Ice,  58,  65 
Floe  Ice,  58,  60 
Flowering  plants  In  Antarctic,  90, 

93-94;    In  Arctic.  90,  95-102 
Fohn  winds,  196 

Food  In  Polar  expeditions.  103-108 
Foxes,  Arctic,  122-124 
From,  77,  112,  189,  200,  239,  242 
Franklin  expedition,  104,  110 
Franz  Josef  Land,  59,  80-81.  84,  91, 

96.99, 106, 115, 118, 179, 181, 200- 

201.   221-224,   225-229,   231 
Freezing-point  of  sea-water,  64,  71 

Graham  Land,  19-22,  24,  38,  41,  45. 

81,  90,  94 
Green  snow,  83 

Greenland.  100,  116.  134,  188-189 
Greenland  Sea.  soundings  In,  170- 

176;  physics  of,  177-178, 180-181. 

201 

Grlnnell  Land,  100,  116,  124 
"Growlers,"  46 
Gulf  Stream,  181 

JJaiua,  189 

Hare,  121 

Health  In   Arctic  regions,  85-87 

Hummocks,  61 

Hunters,  120,  122,  130,  133,  243 

Ice,  discoloured,  74-77;  formation 
of,  64-58;  Islands,  35;  movements 
of,  60-65;  navigation,  65-67; 
pack,  60-68;  pancake,  67-68 


255 


256 


INDEX 


Icebergs,  Antarctic,  26-27,  35-38, 

42-53;     Arctic,    44;     danger    to 

ships,  47-53;    effect  on  density  of 

water,  177;   weathering  of,  39-40 

Ice-cap,  formation  of,  34-35 

Invertebrate  life,  146-152,  155-168 

Kerguelen,  90,  141,  143 
Kites  for  meteorological  purposes, 
207-210 

Lichens  In  Antarctic,  95 
Llme-Julce,  105-106 

Magnetic    observations,    217,    219, 

222-224 

Markham,  Admiral  A.  H.,  124,  177 
Melting  of  snow,  68-69 
Meteorological  work.  Importance  of, 

193-195,  197-199,  202 
Meteorology   of   high   atmosphere, 

207-216 

Michael  Sars,  181 
Mid-Atlantic  rise,  174.  249-250 
Monaco,  Prince  of,  158, 166-167, 170, 

178,  208-216,  242 

Monsoons,  relation  of,   to  meteor- 
ology of  Polar  regions,  197,  202- 

203 

Moose,  121 

Mosses  In  Antarctic,  94 
Motor-power   on   sledge   Journeys, 

253-254 
Musk-ox,  116 

Nansen,  Dr.  F.,  77,  112-114,  170, 

176,  178,  200 
NeVe\  34-35,  38-42 
Nimrod,  187.    See  also  Shackleton 
Nordenskjold,    Baron    A.    E.,    166, 

170,  178-179,  180 
Nordenskjold,  Dr.  Otto,  38,  41-42, 

126,  195-196,  229 
Novaya  Zemlya,  81,  96,  100,  179, 

181,  200 

Observations  at  the  Poles,  11-14 
Ocean  currents,   77,   188-190,  200. 

See  also  Currents 
Oceanographlcal  research,  149-168, 

169-192 

Pack  Ice,  60-68;   danger  of.  63-64 
Pancake  Ice,  57-58 
Peary,  Admiral  R.  E.,  170.  176,  202 
Penguins,  137-141 
Petrels,  142-145 
Pole  hunting,  236 
Pourquoi  Past.  94,  149,  164-165, 
172,  190 


Red  snow,  81-83 

Reindeer,  118 

Ross  Barrier,  22,  36-43 

Ross  Sea,  19,  36-43 

Rotifers,  tenacity  of  life  of,  84-85 

Salinity  of  sea,  177,  185 
Salt  In  sea-Ice,  59-60,  70-71 
Scenery  amid  Ice,  15-17,  26-31,  72- 

74 
Scotia,  24,  32,  52-53,  63,  95,  149, 

160-161,   171-175,  184-187.   189, 

191,  193-198,  207-208,  233-235 
Scott,  Captain,  R.  F.,  37, 38-39, 187, 

252 
Scottish  Antarctic  Expedition,  141- 

142,  152-163,  186,  195,  218,   248, 

254.    See  also  Scotia 
Scurvy,  104-108 
Scurvy  grass,  97-102 
Sea  elephant,  131 
Seaweed,  88-89 
Seals,   Antarctic,   131-132;    Arctic, 

130,  132-133 
Shackleton,  Sir  Ernest,  19,  37,  127, 

188.  218,  234,  252 
Soundings,  difficulty  of,  173 
South  Georgia,  90, 128,  142, 174,  198 
Southern  Ocean,  25.  32 
Spitsbergen,  45,  81.  85,  91,  96,  99. 

101,  102,  120,  122-124,  129,  177, 

178,  181,  201-202,  211,  215,  243 

Temperature,   lowest  recorded,   33 
Temperature  of  sea,  54,   177-178. 

182-185 

Termination  Land,  23,  171 
Terns,  146 
Thermometers,    exposure   of,    203- 

206 

Thunderstorms  and  aurora;,  220-221 
Tidal  observations,  233-235 
Townete,  159-160 
Trawling,  deep  sea,  151-158,  161- 

162,  186 

Unicorn,  130 

Victoria  Land,  21-22,  94 

Walrus,  132 

Water,   supply  of  drinking,   68-70 

Weddell  Sea.  19,  24,  37, 43,  171-173. 

186,   191-192.   197,  203,  252 
Whales  In  Antarctic,  127-129;    In 

Arctic,  129-130 
"White  Ice,"  56 
Wllhelm  Land,  23-24,  94 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JUL  2  2  1966 


Form  L9-100m-9,'52(A3105)444 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GEOLOGY 

Y  of  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  A.SGCLES.  CALIF. 


II  I   I   "    "  '  * 

L  006  557  258  8 


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BOOKSELLERS 

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